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LIFE AND SAYINGS 



OF 



Theodore Roosevelt 



THE 

LIFE AND SAYINGS 

OF 

Theodore Roosevelt 



TWENTY-SIXTH PRESIDENT 
OF THE UNITED STATES 



THOMAS HANDFORD 



INTRODUCTION BY 

CHARLES WALTER BROWN, A. M. 

AUTHOR OF "ETHAN ALLEN," "JOHN PAUL 
JONES," "NATHAN HALE," "LAFAYETTE," 
"PULASKI," "KOSCIUSZKO," ETC., ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED 

CHICAGO'' 

M. A. DONOHUE & CO. 

407-429 Deaborn Street 



arrs 



• Hi 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRfeSS, 

T//0 Copies ReceiveO 

AUG 21 1903 

Copynght cr.ttj 

CUSS^ "^ XXc. No 

COPY S. 



Copyright 1903. 
M. A. DONOHUE & Co, 




.J-AjU^^^btrrJ^ /^-cr^C^^-^'^r^ 



CONTENTS. 



Chapter I, Birth and Boj^hood 21 

Chapter II, College Days— Days of Travel . . 33 

Chapter III, Life in Earnest 41 

Chapter IV, History of the Naval War of 1812 . 52 
Chapter V, In the "World of Politics .... 67 
Chapter VI, Chimney Butte Ranch— The Sports- 
man on the Plains 77 

Chapter VII, Three Great OfHces— Civil Service, 
Police Commissioner, Under Secretary of 

the Navy 90 

Chapter VIII, Romance of the Rough Riders- 
Gathering of the Clans 104 

Chapter IX, On to Santiago, Las Guasimas and 

San Juan . 120 

Chapter X Grand Rally of Rough Riders- 
Roosevelt's Ovation 127 

Chapter XI, Candidate for Governor of New York 140 

Chapter XII, Elected Governor of New York . 157 
Chapter XIII, Elected Vice-President of the 

United States 178 

Chapter XIV, Succeeds to the Presidency . . 195 

Chapter XV, Latest Public Utterances . . . 225 

Chapter XVI, The Study of the Home ... 238 

5 



6 INDEX TO SYMPOSIUM. 

A Nation's Greatness 268 

A Nation of Mere Hucksters 265 

Alien Elements 248 

An American or Nothing 289 

Echoes of Glory and a Legacy of Honor . . . 243 

England's History Rich in Splendid Names . . 269 

Gems 293 

General Wood in Santiago 261 

Honest but Harmful 244 

If We Were Remiss Cuba Will Have a Grievance 267 

Impracticable Doctrinaires 260 

Know-nothingism Is Un-American .... 280 

Labor Unions 292 

Machine Politicians 283 

Men to Whom We Owe Most 264 

On Receiving the Degree ofLL.D 203 

Our Chief Americans 276 

Our Duty to the State 277 

Our Immediate Duty 255 

Own Brothers to Short-sighted Men .... 254 

Physical and Moral Courage . - 258 

Politics as Practical as Business 279 

Practical Politics 275 

Quack Remedies 277 

Roosevelt's Tribute to Admiral Dewey . . . 295 

Roosevelt's Tribute to General Wood ... 253 

Roosevelt's Fellow Workers 286 

The Age Has Great Tasks 246 

The Best Service is not by the Critic .... 283 

The Emotional and the Practical in Morals . . 250 

The Grand Secret of Permanent Success . . . 281 

The Ideal Citizen 281 



INDEX TO SYMPOSIUM. 7 

The Ideal of the Federalist 245 

The Man of Worth to the Comniouwealth . . . 25S 

The Men Who Harm Us 278 

The Monroe Doctrine 209 

The Most Ignoble Character 263 

The Nation's Debt to Washington and Liiicohi . 273 

The Preachers of Discontent ....... 259 

The Peril of the Lawless Classes . . ... . . 250 

The Right to be Optimists— But! 276 

The Worthless Leave no Lasting Impress ... 270 

The Worst Foes of America 252 

The University Man Should Play Iiis Part . . 251 
We Hold in Our Hands the Fate of the Coming 

Years 272 

We Must Not Shirk ! 257 

We Want Good Ships and Good Men .... 291 

What Can and What Cannot Be Done By Law . 285 

What Nations Owe to Their Great Men ... 261 

Young Men Need Enthusiasm 271 

Young Reformers Reform too Much .... 290 

Roosevelt on Expansion 299 



INTRODUCTION. 

Though primarily intended as a "Life of 
Theodore Roosevelt," this work has a far 
greater value to the youth of our country, in 
that instead of portraying the character of 
America's foremost citizen in a lengthy sketch 
as he appears to his contemporaries, Mr. 
Roosevelt is permitted to enter freely into the 
discussion by frequent quotation from his oral 
and written utterances on questions of vital 
concern to the American public. 

There are millions of young men and women 
in America today, between the ages of seven- 
teen and twenty-five— in the homes and on the 
farms, in schools and colleges, in stores, offices 
and factories, in country and in town, who are 
in the formative period of their years. They 
are in a malleable condition; they are as clay 
in the hands of whatsoever potter may chance 
along to undertake their moulding. The early 
years of that "golden age" at whose portals 
we are standing, will be very much what these 
young men and women make them. We have 
entered into an inheritance of opportunity, the 
9 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

extent and magnitude of which we have but a 
vague conception. Life never gave so much, 
and never asked so much as it does today. The 
old heresy that hfe is "a chapter of accidents" 
died long ago, and was buried without benefit 
of clergy or hope of resurrection. No man 
who has achieved fame came by it through 
accident. In the world of successful men, and 
women too, there is no such thing as luck. 
The possession of great wealth which many 
seem to crave does not bring fame; if wealth 
comes through inheritance, it is more often a 
curse sent in disguise and the curse rests equal- 
ly upon the ancestor who unwisely bestows 
as well as upon him who unwittingly receives. 
The reason why there are so few successful men 
is because the great mass of humanity waits 
for riches or fame to be thrust upon them. 
When one discovers that it is only in fairy 
books that wealth and greatness come without 
labor, the sooner he will take off his coat and 
go to work. Some men discover this fact 
quite early in life and lay their plans prepara- 
tory for the summons that is to bear them on 
to victory. Others waste their strength and 
years in the endeavor to build up a showy 
exterior while the inner self is false and rotten. 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

In after years they awaken to find how true is 

the adage, 

"There is a tide in the affairs of men 

That taken at the flood leads on to fortune." 

They find too that the flood passed their way, 
but they were off chasing the shadows of 
hope — ever following whither the will-o'-the- 
wisp that sheds its fitful glimmer about the 
slough of speculation leads them on. But 
sooner or later they despair of success, and 
sick at heart, as one by one the visions that 
flit across life's pathway chsappear, they lay 
down the burden of life. 

"There arc always in life," says Mr. Roose- 
velt, "countless tendencies for good and for 
evil, and each succeeding generation sees some 
of these tendencies strengthened and some 
weakened; nor is it by any means always, 
alas! that the tendencies for evil are weakened 
and those for good strengthened." Every- 
thing that can be brought to bear as a health- 
ful influence on our youth is of the highest im- 
portance. Patriotism — love of home and of 
country should be made a branch of study in 
our common schools for it is the direct business 
of education to fit the young for the duties of 
citizenship and for the conflicts of life. There 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

is nothing in this world that is or should be 
stronger than the love of home and country. 
Fidelity should begin in the family, for when 
once the home is destroyed, the love of one's 
country is dissipated through indifference and 
mistrust. We in America, may sit idly by and 
condemn much that we do not approve in the 
morals and government of the people of France, 
Spain, Turkey, Russia or even of England — 
rejoicing that we are not adrift on the same 
sea of immorality and inhumanity, but wise 
council bids us not to be|too boastful of our own 
security and eternal righteousness. Observ- 
ing men and women, whose love of home and 
country cannot be questioned, and scientists 
amply versed in sociology are calling attention 
to the dangers to which our young people are 
exposed, chiefly in the tenement and the more 
densely populated sections of our great cities. 
The pernicious habits and practices of a few un- 
principled creatures, encouraged by our own 
indifference, if not checked, will surely unfit 
the minds and bodies of our youth for the 
stern reaUties of a responsible citizenship. The 
only kind of education that can counteract the 
evils with which we are threatened is the 
cultivation of active, industrious, moral habits 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

—habits which \vill make our people ashamed 
to be seen idle — ashamed to do a wrong. It is 
not culture of mind alone that will save us; the 
hand and heart must be educated— educated 
to know and to do the right. "Boys or men of 
foul Ufe," says Mr. Roosevelt, "cannot become 
good citizens— good Americans, until they 
change; and even after the change scars will be 
left on their souls." 

There are lessons in the lives of men much 
more potent, however, than all the teaching of 
the best books and the wisest teachers. As Mr. 
Gladstone said in the House of Commons, "One 
example is worth many arguments," it some- 
times becomes the privilege of a man to stand 
forth as an example, and to become an inspira- 
tion to the young men of his generation. Such 
a man is Theodore Roosevelt, who, in the very 
prime of his early manhood has reached the 
highest station possible in all the world— that 
of president of the great American Republic. 

President Roosevelt is one of the brightest and 
brainest, men of his generation, a man in whom 
all the qualities of true manliness are linked, 
with indomitable perseverance and crowned 
with a royal sincerity. Because of this he is 
worthy to be an object lesson to the young 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

men of America, and will j^rove an inspiration 
to the noble ideal of American citizenship and 
through his able leadership we may confidently 
look forward to the realization of all the writer 
predicts in this brief introduction. Mr. Roose- 
velt has used his varied and remarkable j^owers 
to the uttermost, for the noblest ends. He 
loves his home — his country and her people 
with the ardor of a faultless patriotism and a 
zeal and devotion that never tires. No man 
has ever doubted his sincerity. His political 
opponents believe in him, and often wish his 
sword and shield hung in their camp. He is 
pure in politics, faithful in friendship, the pride 
of his companions in arms — in all, an ideal 
American. For these reasons alone, the career 
and character of Theodore Roosevelt is heartily 
commended to the youth of America. 

We cannot all be Roosevelts. It may not 
be ours to do great things, but the poorest and 
the lowliest of us can do common things well. 
We may not be called upon to drive a chariot 
in triumph from the wars; it may be our 
destiny to drive a poor, plain wagon along 
life's rough winding ways. But we can follow 
Emerson's advice; we can "hitch our wagon to 
a star," and so, through fallow field and rough 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

highway, we may drive on; our pathway il- 
lumined by the Hglit of that star now guiding 
this people on to that era of peace and perfect 
happiness when all men shall be equal and the 
eternal principles of equity shall reign supreme. 
There is an element in the work President 
Roosevelt has done that is not given the atten- 
tion it deserves. His contributions to the 
political and social literature of the time, mark 
him out as one who would have made a dis- 
tinguished place for himself in the world of 
literature, had he not sought and received the 
highest office within the gift of the American 
people. He who puts a good book on the 
bookshelf of the world does the world a good 
service. In this respect, as well as in many 
others. President Roosevelt has made his 
country and his age his debtors. His biogra- 
phies of "Thomas Hart Benton," "Oliver 
Cromwell," "Gouverneur Morris"; his "Naval 
War of 1812 "; his "Strenuous Life, Essays and 
Addresses "; his "Winning of the West, " in four 
large volumes; his " Hunting and Ranch Life "; 
and the charming little volume in which he 
has dealt with the romantic expedition of the 
Rough Riders, not to mention the several books 
of which he is the joint author; all these are 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

books of more than common interest. But 
the book which should prove of more practical 
value than all the rest is the volume entitled 
"American Ideals and Other Essays," This 
volume is made up of essays and addresses on 
living questions, dealt with in a frank, honest, 
intelligible manner, and with a vigor that sends 
directly home to the judgment and the con- 
science the great principles of pure American- 
ism. This volume would serve as an excellent 
text book for political campaigns, and it de- 
serves a place in every university and college, 
in every public and private library; and more 
than this, it is worthy of the careful perusal of 
every young man and woman in America. 

In the preface of this book Mr. Roosevelt 
strikes the keynote of his philosophy of true 
Americanism when he says: 

"These essays are written on behalf of 
the many men who do take an actual part 
in trying practically to bring about the con- 
ditions for which we somewhat vaguely hope; 
on behalf of the under-officers in that army 
which, with much stumbling, halting, and 
slipping, many mistakes and shortcomings, 
and many painful failures, does, nevertheless, 
through weary strife, accomplish something 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

toward raising the standard of public life, 
No one quality or one virtue is enough to 
insure success; vigor, honesty, common sense- 
all are needed. The practical man is merely 
rendered more anxious by his practical ability 
if he employs it wrongly, whether from ignor- 
ance or from lack of ability ; while the doctrinaire, 
the man of theories, whether written or spoken^ 
is useless if he cannot also act." 

Young men of America, there is a destiny 
before you that makes life well worth the 
living. There is work for your hands that 
kmgs might envy. The night of oppression 
and fraud, of superstition and insincerity 
is^ past. The tears of anguish, mingled 
with the nation's blood, have washed the 
stains of our country's follies down into the 
sepulchers of earth. The rainbow of peace 
now illumines the land, from sea to sea, and 
from gulf to lakes. We have made mistakes 
and have been punished severely for our 
short-sightedness, but in spite of our folly 
and the mistakes of our fathers, we have 
builded well, for there has arisen, phoenix-like 
as Chicago arose from her ashes, a political 
and social structure, the grandeur of which 
this world has never known. A new epoch 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

in man's career has begun. The fusion of 
all the races settled on the American conti- 
nent are producing and will continue to produce 
results seemingly miraculous. A' thousand 
mysteries, which once seemed inexphcablc, 
have, under the rational impulse of Ameri- 
canism, developed into simple and beautiful 
truths. The age of soul and mind and reason, 
is dawning and the natural forces which once 
so mystified and filled the soul with terror, 
have become the ready instrument in the solu- 
tion of that most sublime question of our 
race — the problem of human life. 

And now looking forward with an eye of 
faith, down through the vista of years to that 
era of electricity, chemical affinities, and a 
thousand possibilities, which are yet to be 
developed, when the laws of evolution, hygiene, 
pathology and longevity and the principles 
of sociology and physchology shall be applied 
to the perfection of the human family, we 
see a race of people in the land we call America, 
happy in their innocence and wisdom, and 
joyous in the peace their minds have wrought. 

Oh, what a prospect for the lover of his 
country! What rapture in the thought that 
the stains of the nation's follies have been 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

cleansed in the people's blood — that their 
tears of anguish have been dried in the sun- 
shine of prosperity, and that our country, 
under the able leadership of a Roosevelt, a 
]\IcKinlcy, a Blaine, a Hayes, and a Lincoln, 
has become the elysium of men and women 
purified and exalted in the crucible of right- 
eousness. Here the eternal principles of 
equity shall yet reign supreme; here human 
existence will reach its perfection. The watch- 
man on the mountain height proclaims the 
dawn of the world's better day, God speed 
that day, no matter what the cost in blood 
and treasure be. 

Charles Walter Brown. 
Chicago, June 1st, 1903. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



CHAPTER I. 

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. 

For two hundred and fifty years, the 
name of Roosevelt has been a name to 
charm with in the best social, commer- 
cial and political life of New York. The 
Roosevelts have been among the builders 
of the nation, and, like many of their 
compatriots, they "builded better than 
they knew." They have taken their full 
share in the business and government of 
the country; they have presented a bold 
front in the presence of her foes and have 
done valiant and heroic service in every 
war in which she has been engaged from 
the War of the Revolution to the last 
conflict with Spain, when Theodore 
Roosevelt and his gallant Rough Riders 

21 



22 KOOSEVELT. 

stormed the bloody heights of Santiago. 
One of the earliest of our colonists was 
the sturdy Claas Martensen Van Koose- 
yelt, who came from Holland to New 
Amsterdam with his wife, Januetje 
Thomas, in the year 1G51, thirty years 
after the Mayflower sailed from Delft 
Haven. Theodore Roosevelt, the subject 
of this biographical sketch, comes in a 
direct line from this pioneer of the sev- 
enteenth century. We are not disposed 
to set much store by rank and ancestry. 
A man may have, as Dryden says: 

"A successive title long and dark 
Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark." 

And yet be not one whit the better or the 
worse. This at least is true: our hero's 
ancestors were men of sterling worth and 
distinguished ability. One of them, 
Nicholas Roosevelt, was a member of the 
Provincial Congress in 1775, a member 
of the Senate in 1786, and during the 
same year he was president of the Bank 
of New York. Another Roosevelt, Nich- 
olas J, by name, was a rival of Robert 



BOOSEVELT. 23 

Fulton in the matter of steamboat inven- 
tion, lie was the inventor of the vertical 
paddle-wheel. He surveyed the* Ohio and 
Mississippi rivers, he had a ship yard in 
Pittsburg and built the "New Orleans," 
the first steamboat that plowed its way 
through "the Father of Waters." One 
writer with a touch of generous admira- 
tion seems to think that Mr. Roosevelt 
absorbed all the excellencies of all his 
ancestors. lie says: 

"But though Theodore Roosevelt's 
name is a Holland one, he is almost in 
equal parts Dutch, French, Irish and 
Scotch. These commingled streams of 
blood show in his character, for as occa- 
sion calls for it, he manifests the Dutch 
phlegm, the Scotch pertinacity, the 
French chivalry, and the true Irish wit." 

This is all very pretty, but we prefer 
to think of him as from head to foot, in 
heart and brain and hand, in thought and 
plan and purpose, in hope and impulse 
and emotion, over all, and above all, a 
thorough ideal American. 



24 ROOSEVELT. 

Theodore Roosevelt was born in the 
family mansion of the Roosevelts, 28 
East Twentieth street, New York, on the 
27th of October, 1858. Speaking of his 
infancy and early years, one who knew 
the family well says: 

"As a young boy he was thin-shanked, 
pale, and delicate, giving little promise 
of the amazing vigor of his later life. To 
avoid the rough treatment of the public 
school, he was tutored at home, also at- 
tending a private school for a time — 
Cutler's, one of the most famous of its 
day. Most of his summers, and in fact 
two-thirds of the year, he spent at the 
Roosevelt farm hear Oyster Bay, then 
almost as distant in time from New York 
as the Adirondacks now are. For many 
years he was slow to learn and not strong 
enough to join in the play of other boys; 
but as he grew older he saw that if he 
ever amounted to anything he must ac- 
quire vigor of body. With characteristic 
energy he set about developing himself. 
He swam, he rode, he ran ; he tramped the 



ROOSEVELT. 25 

hills back of the bay, for pastime study- 
ing and cataloguing the birds native to 
his neighborhood; and thus he laid the 
foundation of that incomparable phys- 
ical vigor from which rose his future 
prowess as a ranchman and hunter." 

The delicate boy was brought up in an 
atmosphere of activity. There were two 
boys and two girls in the family, and 
they were all taught to recognize the 
dignity of labor, and to hold loafing and 
idleness in contempt. The father of the 
household was an eminently practical 
man. If he held theories they were work- 
able theories, just as good in practice as 
on paper. He held that men were re- 
sponsible for every particle of power they 
possessed. He did not under-value 
wealth, but he believed and taught his 
children, that every man being "king of 
two hands" should use them well in hon- 
orable toil. There is a fine stanza, writ- 
ten by some obscure poet on this very 
theme that would have expressed his 
sentiments perfectly: 



26 ROOSEVELT. 

"The noblest men I know on earth. 

Are men whose hands are brown with toil, 

Who, backed by no ancestral graves, 
Hew down the wood and till the soil. 

And thereby win a prouder fame 
Than follows a king's or a warrior's name." 

A Avriter iu the "Criterion" tells of 
some personal interviews he had with 
Theodore Roosevelt, and in conversation 
on the subject of physical weakness in 
very early life, Mr. Roosevelt explains 
how he was growing tired of being re- 
garded with pity because he was "a 
sickly boy." "I was determined," he 
says, "to make a man of myself!" Such 
a determination was, if we may be par- 
doned coining a word, eminently Roose- 
veltian. When spoken to about being a 
city boy, he replied: "I belong as much 
to the country as to the city. I owe all 
my vigor to the country." Now young 
gentlemen, from sixteen to seventeen and 
upwards, you who are growing weary 
of the hum-drum and monotony of the 
farm, put that in your memory jar for 
keeps! 



EOOSEVELT. 27 

Before he reached his teens, young 
Theodore made a voyage with his father 
across the Atlantic. Remember, this 
was thirty years ago. A voyage in those 
days under the most favorable circum- 
stances was a very different experience 
from a voyage in these later years. Now, 
vv^e travel in palaces of splendor v/ith all 
inconveniences and even sea-sickness at 
a minimum; then, a voyage to England 
or any part of Europe for such as were 
not tolerably good sailors, was simply a 
tedious torture. To this observant boy 
of eleven, this journey upon the world of 
waters must have been a wonderful ex- 
periences Most of us can remember what 
strange emotions possessed us when we 
for the first time found ourselves out of 
sight of land. There was "water, water 
everywhere," the water hemmed us in, 
and sea and sky shook hands, and it 
seemed to our young) imagination as 
though we were at least a hundred thous- 
and miles from anywhere, and a million 
miles from home. 



28 ROOSEVELT. 

Theodore Roosevelt was practical 
rather than emotional, even when a boy. 
A friend of those early years, Mr. George 
Cromwell, who shared this voyage with 
young Roosevelt tells some pleasant 
stories of the trip. He describes Theo- 
dore as "a tall, thin lad, with bright 
eyes and legs like pipe stems," a fragile 
piece of humanity who gave little prom- 
ise of the vigorous life that was before 
him. 

"One of the things I remember about 
him on that voyage," says Mr. Cromwell, 
"was that after the ship had got out of 
sight of land, he remarked, half to him- 
self as he glanced at the waters, 'I guess 
there ought to be a good many fish here.' 
Then an idea suddenly struck him, and 
turning to me he said: 'George, go get 
me a small rope from somewhere, and 
we'll play a fishing game.' I don't know 
why I went at once in search of that line, 
without asking why he didn't go himself, 
but I went and it never occurred to me 
to put the question. 



ROOSEVELT. 29 

"Well, I went after the line and 
brought it to him. While I was gone on 
the errand, he had thought out all the de- 
tails of the fishing game, and had climbed 
on top of a coiled cable — for, of course, 
he was to be the fisherman. 

" 'Now,' he said, as I handed him the 
line, 'all you fellows lie down flat on the 
deck here, and make believe to swim 
around like fishes. I'll throw one end of 
the line down to you, and the first fellow 
that catches hold of it is a fish that has 
bit my hook. He must just pull as hard 
as he can, and if he pulls me down off 
this coil of rope, why, then, he will be the 
fisherman and I will be a fish. But if he 
lets go, or if I pull him up here off the 
deck, why, I will still be the fisherman. 
The game is to see how many fish each 
of us can land up here. The one who 
catches the most fish wins.' 

"The rest of us lay down flat on our 
stomachs," Mr. Cromwell says, in con- 
tinuation of his narrative, "and made 
believe to swimj and Theodore, standing 



30 ROOSEVELT. 

above us on the coiled cable, threw down 
one end of his line, a thin but strong rope. 
If I remember correctly my brother was 
the first fish to grasp the line, and then 
commenced a mighty struggle. It seemed 
to be much easier for the fish to pull the 
fisherman down than for the fisherman 
to haul up the dead weight of a pretty 
heavy boy lying flat on the deck below 
him; and I tell 3-ou it was a pretty hard 
struggle. My brother held on to the line 
with both hands, and wrapped his legs 
around it, grapevine fashion. Theodore 
braced his feet on the coiled cable, stiff- 
ened his back, shut his teeth hard, and 
wound his end of the line around his 
waist. At first he tried by sheer muscle 
to pull the fish up; but he soon found it 
was hard work to lift up a boy about as 
heavy as himself. Then another bright 
idea struck him. He pulled less and less, 
and at last ceased trying to pull at all. 
Of course the fish thought the fisherman 
was tired out, and he commenced to pull, 
hoping to get Theodore down on deck. 



ROOSEVELT. 31 

He didn't succeed at first, and pulled all 
the harder. He rolled over on his back, 
then on his side, then sat up, all the time 
pulling and twisting and yanking at the 
line in every possible way; and that was 
just what Theodore hoped the fish would 
do. You see, all this time, while my 
brother w^as using his strength, Theo- 
dore simph' stood still, braced like steel, 
and let him tire himself out. Before very 
long the fish was so out of breath that 
he couldn't pull an}' longer, l^esides, the 
thin rope had cut his hands and made 
them sore. Then the fisherman com- 
menced slowly but steadily to pull on the 
line, and in a very few minutes he had 
ni}^ brother hauled up alongside of him 
on the coil of cable." 

A story is told of these early days 
which we give for what it is w' orth. We 
have seen this episode fastened on al- 
most as many young aspiring orators as 
there are imaginary authors of "The 
Beautiful Snow." 

The stor}' runs thus: — 

Young Roosevelt was a favorite pupil 



32 ROOSEVELT. 

in the smaller institution where the 
schoolmaster, a gentleman of the old 
school, taught a score of boys the things 
most essential for entrance into old Har- 
vard. In those callow days Theodore was 
not the finished orator that characterized 
his later years of public life. Upon one 
occasion he was called upon to recite 
the poem beginning: 

"At midnight, in his guarded tent, 
The Turk lay dreaming of the hour 
When Greece, her knees in suppliance bent. 
Should tremble at his power." 

Theodore arose and started out brave- 
ly. With all the flourishes of boyish en- 
ergy he repeated the lines as far as 
"When Greece, her knees — " and then 
stopped. 

He stammered, shuffled his feet and 
began again: "When Greece, her 
knees — " The old schoolmaster leaned 
forward, and, in a shrill voice, said: 
"Grease 'em again, Teddy, and maybe it 
will go then." And Teddy with his usual 
pluck tried it again with marked suc- 
cess. 



CHAPTER II. 

COLLEGE DAYS— DAYS OF TRAVEL. 

ADd now come Roosevelt's halycon 
days. For if ever halycon days come to 
mortal man, they are those days spent 
in college and university, when the 
young mind, free from care and untram- 
meled by any burden of responsibility, is 
buoyed with hope and all aflame with 
dreams of destiny. The exercise that 
would be very wearying to the ordinary 
man is a perfect luxury to the athlete; 
and to the true alumnus who loves his 
Alma Mater"; the college quadrangle is a 
patch of Paradise, and all the regions 
round about are Elysian fields. There 
are no friendships like college friend- 
ships, no memories so delightful. 

Young Roosevelt entered Harvard Col- 
lege with all the enthusiasm of the earn- 
est student. His father had often im- 

33 



34 ROOSEVELT. 

pressed on him, and on his brother and 
sisters, the wise words of Solomon: 
"Whatsoever thy hand flndeth to do, do 
it with all thy might." He went to Har- 
vard resolved to get from Harvard all 
Harvard could give. He devoted him- 
self most ardently to these special lines 
of study: 

1. History. 

2. Natural History. 

- 3. Political Economy. 

When a boy on his father's farm he 
had lived nearer to nature's heart than 
he knew. He saw the beauty of earth 
and sea and sky, "with eyes serene;'^ he 
heard the voices of the woodlands, the 
songs of birds and the sighing of the 
night-winds, with "the inner ear." He 
longed to see nature in her grander forms 
and her sublimer manifestations. And 
all in/ good time these yearnings were sat- 
isfied on the snowy heights of the Jung- 
frau and the Matterhorn; and amid the 
majestic solitudes of the canons of Col- 
orado. 



ROOSEVELT. 



35 




36 ROOSEVELT. 

Theodore Roosevelt was never a 
dreamer of dreams, and with all a poet's 
love of nature in her multitudinous 
forms, he was practical to the very utter- 
most, and studied with equal zest ab- 
struse logical questions and the prosier 
tenets of political economy. 

He was for a little time editor of the 
"Harvard Advocate," but the luxury of 
wielding that mystic wand the editorial 
"We" was only an incident, hardly an 
episode in his busy career. 

What distinction he won at Harvard 
was rather in the line of athletics. He 
took his full share in all the delights and 
exercises of the gymnasium and the field. 
He was the champion lightweight boxer 
at Harvard, and entertains a very high 
regard for the fistic art. He says: — 

"When I was in Harvard, and sparred 
for the championship, I suffered a heavier 
punishment than any man there did, and 
I have been knocked out at Polo twice 
I don't care much for professional sport 
of any kind, but I thoroughly believe in 



ROOSEVELT. 37 

boxing, exactly as I believe in football 
and other manly games." 

At last the college days came to an 
end. Theodore Roosevelt was graduated 
from Harvard College in 1880. He was 
a Phi Beta Kappa man. He brought 
away from his Alma Mater the ground- 
work and foundation of generous, liberal 
education, upon which he has been build- 
ing steadily and surely ever since. There 
was a brief period of study at Dresden, 
then came days of happy, inspiring and 
invigorating travel. A year was spent 
in Europe and the East. Switzerland, 
the fairest country God's sun shines on, 
the scene of all that is enchanting, pictur- 
esque and beautiful, had special charms 
for the young American traveler. Moun- 
tains are always attractive to the ambi- 
tious. There is a physical, a mental — and 
for the matter of that, a moral bracing 
in the atmosphere of their summits that 
can nowhere else be found; and tliis little 
Switzerland is the land of mountains, 
range on range, whose glittering peaks 



38 ROOSEVELT. 

are white with iinmelting snows; the 
land of Mont Blanc, of the Jiingf ran and 
the Matterhorn. How lordly and sub- 
lime those monarchs of the mountain 
stand! What a theatre of glory is 
Chamouni's Vale! 

Who that has once read can ever forget 
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's ''Hymn Be- 
fore Sunrise in the Vale of Ghamouni?" 
It is necessary to stand in the mystic 
vale and see the sunlight on Mont Blanc's 
"White and awful brow," to fully appre- 
ciate these matchless lines, which it was 
worth living to write if the poet had 
written nothing more: 

"Hast thou a charm to stay the morning-star 
In his steep course? So long he seems to pause 
On thy bald, awful head, O sovereign Blanc! 
The Arve and Arvelron at thy base 
Rave ceaselessly; but thou, most awful Form, 
Risest from forth thy silent sea of pines. 
How silently! Around thee and above. 
Deep in the air and dark, substantial black — 
An ebon mass. Methinks thou piercest it. 
As with a wedge! But when I look again. 
It is thine own calm home, thy crystal shrine, 
Thy habitation from eternity! 



KOOSEVELT. 39 

O, dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee. 
Till thou, still present to the bodily sense, 
Didst vanish from my thought. Entranced in 

prayer, 
I worshipped the Invisible. 
* * * * * * 

Who bade the sun 
Clothe you with rainbows? Who, with living 

flowers, 
Of lovliest blue, spread garlands at your feet? 
God!— Let the torrents, like a shout of nations, 
Answer! and let the ice-plains echo, God! 
God!— sing ye meadow-streams with gladsome 

voice ! 
Ye pine-groves, with j^our soft and soul-like 

sounds! 
And they too have a voice, you piles of snow. 
And in their perilous fall shall thunder, God! 
Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost! 
Ye wild goats sporting round the eagle's nest! 
Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm. 
Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds! 
Ye sighs and wonders of the elements! 
Utter forth God— and flll the hills with praise!" 

The sight of brave men and brave wo- 
men daring the perilous task of climbing 
the Jungfrau and the Matterhorn stirred 
every drop of blood in young Roosevelt's 
heart, and with true Rooseveltian ambi- 
tion he started to climb these mountains, 



40 ROOSEVELT. 

and did not Stay his climbing till he 
reached the summit. The thing thihs in- 
trepid man undertakes he generally ac- 
complishes, sooner or later. He reminds 
one of that Scripture text: "And the 
children of Israel started out to go to 
the land of Canaan, and to the land of 
Canaan they went." Returning home by 
way of London he made a host of friends, 
and was enthusiastically elected a mem- 
ber of the Alpine Club of London. 



CHAPTER III. 



LIFE IN EARNEST. 



The days of preparation are over, life 
now begins in earnest. The feeble, deli- 
cate boy had become th^ robust, stalwart 
young man. He was barely twenty-three 
years of age, the drama of life was about 
to begin. The curtain was rising, he 
knew his cue, and was waiting for the 
call. He might have chosen a butterfly 
life. He w^as even now possessed of 
wealth enough to have kept him in lux- 
ury all his life. He might have spent his 
days in sauntering idleness, a pet of soci- 
ety, a favorite of the clubs. But one 
glance of the young New Yorker shows 
that none of these things are to his taste. 
He stands four-square, and looking with 
level, earnest eyes, gives the world as- 
surance of a man. 

For a few months he attempted the 
41 



42 ROOSEVELT. 

study of the law with his uncle, Robert 
B. Roosevelt; but he was born for advo- 
cacy, for energy, for fighting, for vigor- 
ous action rather than quiet musing, the 
battlefield rather than the cloister was 
his choice. He plunged into the political 
world — and just then the political world 
of New York offered all the fighting a 
reasonable man could desire. He began 
attending primaries and other political 
meetings, and found enough to employ 
his ardor to the uttermost He began 
making political addresses that evi- 
denced much study and a thorough un- 
derstanding of the political situation. 

Shrewd, far-seeing men began to speak 
of Theodore Roosevelt as one of the 
"coming men of largest promise!" And 
their predictions were not without rea- 
sonable foundation. A man who could 
speak with the directness and force that 
began to characterize all his public utter- 
ances, was sure to win the confidence as 
well as the admiration of his hearers. 
He was a growing power on the platform, 



ROOSEVELT. 43 

and began to sway multitudes with tlie 
wand of straiglitforward common sense, 
rather than by any tricks of the profes- 
sional orator. One of the memorable ad- 
dresses of this period was delivered be- 
fore a conference for good government, 
held in the City of Philadelphia. On that 
occasion Mr. Koosevelt said: 

"There are two gospels I always want 
to preach to reformers, whether they are 
working for civil service reform, for 
municipal reform, or for any other re- 
form., The first is the gospel of mora lity ; 
the next is the gospel of eflflciency. To a 
body like this I do not think I have to 
dwell much upon the necessity of being 
straight and decent, for of course a man 
must try to render disinterested, honest 
service to the community if he has the 
least claim to be called a good citizen. 
But I know you don't need to have me 
dwell upon this side of the question. You 
come here representing the men who sin- 
cerely wish to see our municipal govern- 
ment purified, to see our public officials 



44 ROOSEVELT. 

elected because they are likely to render 
honest service to the community, and to 
see our whole political life conducted 
in accordance with the highest standards 
of morality. 

"I don't have to tell you to be upright, 
but I do think I have to tell you to be 
practical and efficient. When I say prac- 
tical I don't mean that you have got to 
connive at wrong-doing or submit to it; 
on the contrary, I believe that the most 
practical politicians are the most honest, 
and that in the long run the politics of 
fraud and treachery and bribery and 
foulness are unpractical politics. But I 
do mean to say that you have got to face 
facts as they are; that, while keeping a 
high standard, you have yet got to realize 
that there are very many men whose 
standard is not so high, and that you 
must strive to get out from these men 
the best that lies in them, even though 
it is not absolute best. In condemning 
men whose standards are not so high as 
they ought to be (though this condem- 



ROOSEVELT. 45 

nation is often necessary), you must be 
careful not to encourage men whose 
standards are still lower. It is sometimes 
necessary to help the best by overthrow- 
ing the good, even though it produces 
the temporary triumph of the bad; but 
such action must always be regarded as 
exceptional; to follow it out as a steady 
policy is an infallible method of working 
evil to the community. 

"Two points in especial bear in mind; 
be actors, and not merely critics of others, 
in the first place, and in the second, do 
not try to accomplish anything at the 
very beginning, and then because you fail 
abandon the effort to accomplish any- 
thing. 

"As to the first point, criticism is a 
very good thing, but work is a much bet- 
ter one. It is not the man who sits at 
home in his parlor, the man who reads 
his evening paper before the fire and says 
how bad our politicians are, who ever 
works an improvement in our municipal 
government. It is the man who goes out 



46 EOOSEVELT. 

to the primaries and the polls, who at- 
tends the meetings of his party organiza- 
tions if he is a party man, or who gets up 
effective independent organizations if he 
is not a party man, the man who v/ins in 
actual hard fighting, and who is not 
afraid of the blood and sweat — he is the 
man who deserves our gratitude; he is 
the man upon whom we must ultimately 
rely for results. Meetings like this, 
where all of us who believe alike get to- 
gether, talk with one another, and learn 
to see the situation as it is, and try to 
plan methods for making it better, serve 
an admirable purpose, too; but the real 
battle must be fought out on other and 
less pleasant fields. In the end the work 
has got to be done by actual, hard, stub- 
born, long continued service in the field 
of practical politics itself. You have got 
to go out and meet not merely the men 
who think like you, but the men who 
think differently from you. You have 
got to try to win them to your side by 
argument, to try to beat them and over- 



ROOSEVELT. 47 

throw them, and drive them from the 
field if you can't win them by argument. 
You may as well make up your mind at 
the beginning that when you thus go into 
practical politics you will make some 
mistakes, and you will be criticised by 
those who don't go in; but you may make 
up your mind also that in no other way 
can you ever achieve anything, and that 
the crown must finally be awarded, not 
to the man who says how poorly others 
have done their work, but to the man 
who actually does the work, even though 
he does it imperfectly and with many 
shortcomings. 

"Again, don't try to begin by reform- 
ing the whole world. Prove yourself to 
be a tolerably efficient under-officer be- 
fore you aspire to the work of the com- 
mander-in-chief. Of course, from the 
outset you must take an interest in the 
great problems of state and national leg- 
islation, no less than of municipal; but 
this must not be all. Go into your own 
assembly district, try to find out the men 



48 ROOSEVELT. 

who think as you do, and whom you can 
spur into taking some kind of an active 
part; then, whether you are a Republican 
like myself, a Democrat like my friend 
here, or an Independent like my friend 
there, try to get your fellows to organize 
with you and to organize on a basis of 
desire for clean, decent government. Be- 
come thoroughly familiar with the work 
of the different machines in your district, 
with the work gone through in nomi- 
nating candidates, no less than in prepar- 
ing for the actual battle at the polls. Try 
to make your influence felt on your local 
representative, whether a councilman, 
alderman, or any other oflflcial. Make 
yourself a power. Teach the politicians, 
and by degrees teach the people, too, that 
you are not only disinterested, but that 
you are efficient also; that you are striv- 
ing for the right, and that when you hit 
you hit to some purpose. 

"In carrying on your battle for decency 
remember one thing; if you are to win 
you must win by being straight out 



ROOSEVELT. 40 

Americans, and by conducting your cam- 
paign in the regular American spirit. If 
you try to organize your movement on 
any line of caste, or any line of birth- 
place or of creed, you will be beaten, and 
you will deserve to be beaten. Go into 
our politics simply as Americans. Work 
heartily with the man in whose ideas 
you believe and who believes in your 
ideas, without any reference to whether 
he is a Jew or Gentile, Catholic or Prot- 
estant, whether he was born here or 
abroad, whether he is a banker or a 
butcher, a professor or a hod-carrier, a 
railway president or the owner of a cor- 
ner store; in short, act as Americans, and 
as nothing else. 

"In conclusion, one thing: Don't forget 
that while you must cultivate all the 
softer virtues, yet that you will cease to 
be men if you fail to cultivate the strong- 
er virtues likewise. You must be disin- 
terested, unselfish, upright; but you must 
also be sincere and resolute and courage- 
ous, morally and physically able to take 



50 ROOSEVELT. 

punishment without flinching, and to 
give punishment in turn when the time 
and the need arise. Above all, remember 
that there is nothing more contemptible 
than to flincli from a task because you 
find it disagreeable, or because at first 
you fail to achieve the success that you 
think you should. If you find that at first 
you are powerless, that your efforts for a 
month or two or a year or two fail to re- 
sult in anything, then it is merely your 
duty to redouble your efforts, and, if nec- 
essary, to try to change and improve your 
methods. If you find that the people with 
whom you are thrown in contact in polit- 
ical life have low moral ideals, and are 
coarse and disagreeable, and yet too 
often are triumphant, why, instead of 
flinching from them, remember that if 
you are men you will stand up all the 
stouter in your battle. If you wish to ac- 
complish anything in the field of munic- 
ipal reform you must be upright and dis- 
interested; you must be practical and 
willing to work hard, and not merely 



EOOSEVELT. 51 

criticise; you must be Americans through 
and through, in temper and spirit and 
heart, and you must possess the essential 
virtues of manliness, of resolution, and of 
indomitable courage." 



CHAPTER IV. 

ROOSEVELT'S HISTORY OF THE NAVAL WAR 

OF 1812. 

Later on in these pages opportunity 
will present itself to call attention to 
Theodore Eoosevelt as a man of rare 
literary power and of untiring in- 
dustry in the realm of letters. The 
world at large is not aware how many 
good books this busy man of affairs has 
placed upon the bookshelf of the world, 
some of which are surely destined to 
more than ephemeral fame. This seems 
to be on the whole a good time to call 
attention to his exhaustive compedium 
of Naval matters contained in a large 
octave volume of 549 closely printed 
pages, entitled, "The Naval War of 1812; 
or the History of the United States Navy 
During the Last War with Great Brit- 
ain." Theodore Roosevelt lives in this 
invaluable book. He has written him- 
52 



ROOSEVELT. 53 

self into this important national record — 
the frankness, the impartiality, the fear- 
less honesty, the transparent patriotism 
that characterize the man, are all here, 
bristling on every page of this first effort 
of his facile and enchanting pen. There 
will be time enough by and by for elegant 
phrases and ornate forms of speech; but 
just now the young author is very busy 
with stern hard facts. He was in the 
very morning of his manhood when he 
undertook this task, that to the ordinary 
mind would seem dull and uninviting. 
But America greatly needed such a book. 
In the brief preface to the first edition of 
"The Naval War of 1812," the author 
says: 

"Much of the material in our Navy De- 
partment has never been touched at all. 
In short, no full, accurate, and unpreju- 
diced history of the War has ever been 
written." 

But such a book was greatly needed. 
No nation can afford that any pages of its 
history should be forgotten, but there are 



54 EOOSEVELT. 

some pages so fraught with importance 
that to leave them blank would be a dis- 
honor and a shame. Such were the pages 
that comprise the years 1812-1813-1814- 
1815. Mr. Eoosevelt boldly set himself 
to the task of preparing this goodly vol- 
ume. Later on in the preface he says: — 
"Without abating a jot from one's devo- 
tion to his country and his flag, I think 
a history can be made just enough to 
warrant its being received as an author- 
ity equally among Americans and Eng- 
lishmen. I have endeavored to supply 
such a work. It is impossible that errors, 
both of fact and opinion, should not have 
crept in; and although I have sought to 
make it in character as non-partisan as 
possible, these errors will probably be 
in favor of the American side." 

Speaking of this work, Rupertl Hughes, 
writing in the "Criterion," says: "It goes 
back to the sources, and reconstructs 
history with critical determination to 
find the truth. He finds many of the 
American historians given to bombast 



KOOSEVELT. 55 

and distortion of facts, and he leaves to 
the English authority, James, hardly a 
shred of reputation, proving him an un- 
scrupulous misquoter even of British 
authorities, and in general a liar extra- 
ordinary and plenipotentiary. Colonel 
Roosevelt thinks that Commodore Perry 
has been grossly over-rated. The en- 
thusiasm he withholds from Perry he 
lavishes on Macdonough. He writes ex- 
pertly of ships and crews and guns. This 
book has reached its seventh edition, and 
explains his fitness, in learning at least, 
for the post of Assistant Secretary of the 
Navy, though his appointment caused, at 
first, some surprise." 

In the very beginning of the volume 
the author gives a graphic picture of the 
relative conditions of the British and 
United States Navy, part of which we 
here transcribe: — 

"During the early years of this century 
England's naval power stood at a height 
never reached before or since by that of 
any other nation. On every sea her na- 



56 EOOSEVELT. 

vies rode, not only triumphant, but with 
none to dispute their sway. These island 
folk had long claimed the mastery of the 
ocean, and they had certainly succeeded 
in making their claim completely good 
during the time of bloody warfare that 
followed the breaking out of the French 
Kevolution. Since the year 1792 each 
European nation, in turn, had learned 
to feel bitter dread of the weight of Eng- 
land's hand. In the Baltic, Sir Samuel 
Hood had taught the Russians that they 
must needs keep in port when the Eng- 
lish cruisers were in the offing. The de- 
scendants of the Vikings had seen their 
whole navy destroyed at Copenhagen. 
No Dutch fleet ever put out after the day 
when off Camperdown Lord Duncan took 
possession of DeWinter's shattered ships. 
But a few years before 1812 the greatest 
sea-fighter of all time had died in Trafal- 
gar Bay, and in dying had crumbled to 
pieces the navies of France and Spain. 

"From that day England's task was 
but to keep in port such of her foes' ves- 



ROOSEVELT. 57 

sels as she had not destroyed. France 
alone still possessed fleets that could be 
rendered formidable, and so from the 
Scheldt to Toulon, her harbors were 
watched and her coasts harried by the 
blockading squadrons of the English. 
Elsewhere the latter had no fear of their 
power being seriously assailed; but their 
vast commerce and numerous colonies 
needed ceaseless protection. According- 
ly, in everj' sea their cruisers could be 
found, of all sizes, from the stately ship 
of-the-line, with her tiers of heavy can- 
non and her many hundreds of men, down 
to the little cutter carrying but a score 
of souls and a couple of light guns. All 
these cruisers, but especially those of 
the lesser rates, wxre continually brought 
into contact with such of the hostile ves- 
sels as had run through the blockade, or 
were too small to be affected by it, 
French and Italian frigates were often 
fought and captured when they were 
skirting their own coasts, or had started 
off on a plundering cruise through the 



58 ROOSEVELT. 

Atlantic, or to the Indian Ocean; and 
tliough the Danes had lost their larger 
ships they kept up a spirited warfare 
with brigs and gunboats. So the English 
marine was in constant exercise, attend- 
ed with almost invariable success." 

Then follows a vivid and graphic de- 
scription of the naval power of the 
United States w^hen Congress declared 
war upon Great Britain. 

"Such," says Theodore Roosevelt, "was 
Great Britain's naval power when the 
Congress of the United States declared 
war upon her. While she could number 
her thousand sail, the American navy in- 
cluded but half a dozen frigates, and six 
or eight sloops and brigs; and it is small 
matter for surprise that the British 
should have regarded their new foe with 
contemptuous indifference. Hitherto, the 
American seamen had never been heard 
of except in two or three engagements 
with French frigates, and some obscure 
skirmishes against the Moors of Tripoli, 
none of which could possibly attract at- 



EOOSEVELT. 59 

tention in the years that saw Aboukir, 
Copenhagen and Trafalgar. And yet 
these same petty wars were the school 
which raised our marine to the highest 
standard of excellence. A continuous 
course of victory, won mainly by seaman- 
ship, had made the English sailor over- 
weeningly self-confident, and caused him 
to pay but little regard to manoeuvring 
or even to gunnery. Meanwhile the 
Americans learned, by receiving hard 
knocks, how to give them, and belonged 
to a service too young to feel over-confi- 
dence in itself. One side had let its train- 
ing relax, while the other had carried It 
to the highest possible point. Hence, our 
ships proved, on the whole, victorious iu 
the apparently unequal struggle, and the 
men who had conquered the best seamen 
of Europe were now in turn obliged to 
succumb. Compared with the great 
naval battles of the preceding few years, 
our bloodiest conflicts were mere skirm- 
ishes, but they were skirmishes between 
the hitherto acknowledged Kings of the 



60 KOOSEVELT. 

Ocean, and seamen who yet proved to 
be more than their equals. For over a 
hundred years, or since the time when 
they had contended on equal terms with 
the great Dutch admirals, the British 
had shown a decided superiority to their 
various foes, and during the latter quar- 
ter of the time this superiority, as already 
said, was very marked, indeed; in conse- 
quence, the victories of the new enemy 
attracted an amount of attention alto- 
gether disproportionate to their material 
effects. And it is a curious fact that our 
little navy, in which the art of handling 
and fighting the old broadside, sailing 
frigate in single conflict, was brought to 
the highest point of perfection ever 
reached, that this same navy should have 
contained the first representative of the 
modern war steamer, and also the tor- 
pedo — the two terrible engines which 
were to drive from the ocean the very 
white-winged frigate that had first won 
honor for the starry flag. 

"The tactical skill of Hull or Decatur 



ROOSEVELT. 61 

is now of merely archaic interest, and has 
but little more bearing on the man- 
oeuvring of a modern fleet than have the 
tactics of the Athenian galleys. But the 
war still conveys some practical lessons 
as to the value of efficient ships and, 
above all, of efficient men in them. Had 
we only possessed the miserable gun- 
boats, our men could have done nothing; 
had we not possessed good men, the 
heavy frigates would have availed us lit- 
tle. Poor ships and impotent artillery 
had lost the Dutch almost their entire 
navy; fine ships and heavy cannon had 
not saved the French and Spanish from 
a like fate. We owed our success to put- 
ting sailors even better than the Dutch 
on ships even finer than those built by 
the two Latin seaboard powers." 

A few brief passages from Chapter IX. 
of this elaborate volume in which Mr. 
Roosevelt sums up the results of the war, 
will serve the purpose of presenting to 
the young American of this generation 
an intelligible conception of that great 



62 EOOSEVELT. 

struggle, and of the character of the men 
who conducted it to an honorable and 
successful issue. 



The treaty of peace between the United 
States and Great Britain was signed at 
Ghent, December 24, 1814, and ratified 
at Washington, February 18, 1815. But 
during these first two months of 1815, 
and until the news reached the cruisers 
on the ocean, the warfare went on with 
much the same characteristics as before. 
The blockading squadrons continued 
standing on and off before the ports con- 
taining warships with the same unweary- 
ing vigilance; but the ice and cold pre- 
vented any attempts at harrying the 
coast except from the few frigates scat- 
tered along the shore of the Carolinas 
and Georgia, There was no longer any 
formidable British fleet in the Chesa- 
peake or Delaware, while at New Orleans 
the only available naval force of the 
Americans consisted of a few small row- 



ROOSEVELT 



63 



boats, with which they harrassed the 
rear of the retreating British. 

****** 

In summing up the results of the strug- 
gle on the ocean, it is to be noticed that 
very little was attempted, and nothing 
done, by the American Xavy that could 
materially affect the result of the war. 
* * * The material results were not 
very great, at least in their effect on 
Great Britain, whose enormous navy did 
not feel in the least degree the loss of a 
few frigates and sloops. But, morally, 
the result was of inestimable benefit to 
the United States. The victories kept 
up the spirits of the people cast down by 
the defeats on land; practically decided 
in favor of the Americans the chief ques- 
tion in dispute— Great Britain's right of 
search and impressment — and gave the 
navy, and thereby the country, a world 
wide reputation. I doubt if ever before a 
nation gained as much honor by a few 
single-ship duels. For there can be no 
question which side came out of the war 



64 ROOSEVELT. 

with the greatest credit. The damage 
inflicted by each on the other was not 
very unequal in amount, but the balance 
was certainly in favor of the United 
States, as can be seen by the following 
tables, for the details of which reference 
can be made to the various years: 

AMERICAN LOSS. BRITISH LOSS. 

Caused: Tonnage. Guns. Tonnage. Guns. 

By Ocean cruisers. .5,987 278 8,451 351 

On the lakes 727 37 4,159 212 

By the army 3,007 116 500 22 

By privateers ... 402 20 

Total 9,718 431 13,512 605 

In addition, we lost four revenue cut- 
ters, mounting 24 guns, and, in the ag- 
gregate of 387 tons, and also 25 gun- 
boats, with 71 guns, and in the aggregate 
of nearly 2,000 tons. This would swell 
our loss to 12,105 tons, and 526 guns; but 
the loss of the revenue cutters and gun- 
boats can fairly be considered to be coun- 
ter-balanced by the capture or destruc- 
tion of the various British Royal Pack- 
ets — all armed with from 2 to 10 guns^ 



ROOSEVELT. 65 

tenders, barges, etc., which would be the 
aggregate of at least as great tonnage 
and gun force, and with numerous crews. 

The British Navy numbering at the 
outset a thousand cruisers, had accomp- 
lished less than the Americans, which 
numbered but a dozen. Moreover, most 
of the loss suffered by the former was in 
single fight, while this had been but twice 
the case with the Americans, who had 
generally been overwhelmed by num- 
bers. 

***♦♦# 

The clock of his years had not struck 
twenty-five when Theodore Roosevelt 
produced this exhaustive standard vol- 
ume of national importance. It has 
passed through seven editions; it is ac- 
cepted both by British and American 
seamen as an authority on the special 
subject with which it deals, and has a 
place in the library of every warship in 
the American Navy and every Naval in- 
stitution in the United States. It would 



66 KOOSEVELT. 

be worth the while of every American 
sailor to study this book. The author of 
this book is very proud of the American 
sailor. Speaking of them as a class, he 
says: 

"There were no better seamen in the 
world than the American Jack; he had 
been bred to his work from his infancy, 
and had been off in a fishing dory almost 
as soon as he could walk. When he grew 
older, he shipped on a merchantman or 
whaler, and in those warlike times, when 
our merchant marine was compelled to 
rely pretty much on itself for protection, 
each craft had to be handled well; all 
who were not were soon weeded out by 
a process of natural selection of which 
the agents were French picaroons, Span- 
ish buccaneers, and Malay pirates. It was 
a rough school, but it taught Jack to be 
both skillful and self-reliant." 



CHAPTER V. 

IN THE WORLD OF POLITICS. 

In the days when Roscoe Conkling was 
in all his glory as the Republican leader 
of New York State, and John Kelly sat 
as Democratic King in Tammany Uall; 
when everything of a political character 
was run by the respective party ma- 
chines; when the true patriot seemed lost 
in the professional politician; Theodore 
Roosevelt came to the front. He had been 
trained to regard citizenship as involving 
simple, practical responsibilities. He 
thought, for example, that every man 
should learn how to bear arms. He had 
entered the State Militia, and subse- 
quently joined the Eighth Regiment, 
New York State National Guards, as 
Second Lieutenant, of which he became 
Captain in 1888. The war with Spain 
w^as not even dreamed of in those days, 

or 



68 KOOSEVELT. 

and the young lieutenant of the State 
National Guard could not know for what 
brave service he was preparing himself. 

The first plunge into politics was as 
candidate for the State Legislature, in 
the Twenty-first district. The district was 
Republican. Voters had grown tired of 
their ward "boss" and the name of young 
Roosevelt had power to charm. He was 
nominated at the primaries, and in due 
course he was elected. Mr. Roosevelt, 
referring some years after to this episode 
in his life, says : — 

"I always believed, and do yet, that a 
man should join a political organization 
and should attend the primaries; that he 
should not be content to be governed, 
but should do his part in the work. So 
upon leaving college I went to the local 
political headquarters, attended all the 
meetings and took part in whatever was 
up. There came a revolt against the 
member of the Assembly from that dis- 
trict, and I was nominated to succeed 
him, and was elected." 



ROOSEVELT. 69 

In his "Life of Eoosevelt," referring to 
his entrance on public service, Mr. Clem- 
ens says: — 

"When Mr. Roosevelt took the oath of 
office, in the Assembly in January, 1882, 
both houses of the Legislature presented, 
in external appearance at least, a marked 
contrast to the weed Legislature of a 
decade previous. In Weed's time the 
legislators^ had received three dollars per 
day. In 1882 they received fifteen dollars. 
Mr. Roosevelt was the youngest member 
of the Legislature. Some of the old polit- 
ical war horses from New York promptly 
named him ^silk-stocking,' and passed 
him by as one of the freaks of a popular 
election. But they misjudged their man, 
for Mr. Roosevelt had a faculty of making 
himself a storm center. He studied his 
colleagues until he knew whom he could 
trust and whom he must fight, and then, 
quite to the dismay of some of his fellow 
legislators, he went to work. Within 
two months he was) the undisputed leader 
of the Republican minority of the house. 



70 eoosetelt. 

He began at once his fight for reform, 
and fought so well that in a year he was 
known all over the country as a new 
power in the Albanj^ halls of legislation. 

"Mr. Roosevelt believes now, as he be- 
lieved then, that 'Politics and war are the 
two biggest games there are.' He played 
in politics at Albany like a soldier, at- 
tacked the bosses and the methods of the 
machine, and laughed bravely enough, 
when the New York newspapers, backed 
by the bosses, lampooned and derided 
him and his motives. He succeeded in se- 
curing the passage of the famous Eoose- 
velt Aldermanic bill, which deprived the 
City Council of New York of the right to 
veto the mayor's appointments, the pro- 
vision under which Weed and his ring- 
sters had waxed fat This was the most 
important work he did in Albany. 

"The voters of the Twenty-first As- 
sembly District re-elected him by the 
large majority of 2,219, the candidate 
running 2,000 votes ahead of his ticket. 
Soon after the opening of the session of 



ROOSEVELT 



71 




73 ROOSEVELT. 

1883, Mr. Roosevelt commenced a war- 
fare against the railroad companies. He 
introduced a bill requiring the New 
York elevated railroad companies to 
reduce their fares from ten to five cents. 
The bill passed both houses after much 
agitation. But it was vetoed by Gover- 
nor Cleveland on the ground of uncon- 
stitutionality, because it disregarded the 
implied obligation which had arisen be- 
tween the State and the elevated roads 
when the franchise was granted. Cleve- 
land furthermore held that it would in- 
volve a breach of faith, inasmuch as 
liberal inducements had been offered to 
secure rapid transit in New York, and 
the rates of fare allowed had been an 
essential part of the consideration under 
which capital had ventured into the en- 
terprise. Mr. Roosevelt recognized the 
weight of these arguments. He saw that 
he had been wrong in voting for the bill 
and he was not the man to preserve a 
stolid acquiescence in error when that 
error had been demonstrated. A motion 



KOOSEVELT. 73 

came up to pass the bill over the Gover- 
nor's veto. Eoosevelt astonished his as- 
sociates by opposing it. He astonished 
them still more by the manfully frank 
and courageous method of his opposition. 
" 'I have to say with shame,' he began, 
*that when I voted for this bill I did not 
act as I think I ought to have acted, and 
as I generally have acted on the floor of 
this House. For the only time that I 
ever voted contrary to what I think to 
be honestly right I did at that time. I 
have to confess that I wealdy yielded, 
partly to a vindictive feeling toward the 
infernal thieves who have that railroad 
in charge, and partly to the popular voice 
of New York. For the managers of the 
elevated railroads I have as little feeling 
as any man here, and if it were possible 
I would be willing to pass a bill of at- 
tainder against Gould and all of his as- 
sociates. I realize that they have done 
the most incalculable harm to this com- 
munity — ^with their hired stock-jobbing 
newspaper, with their corruption of the 



74 KOOSEVELT. 

Judiciary, and with their corruption of 
this House. It is not a question of doing- 
right to them, for they are merely com- 
mon thieves. As to the resolution — a pe- 
tition handed in by the directors of the 
company — signed by Gould and his son, 
I would pay more attention to a petition 
signed by Barney Aaron, Owen Geoghe- 
gan, and Billy McGlory than I would 
pay to that paper, because I regard these 
men as part of an infinitely dangerous 
order — the wealthy criminal class.' 

"Although the motion to pass the bill 
over Governor Cleveland's veto was lost, 
the assertions of Mr. Koosevelt, and his 
phrase 'the wealthy criminal class,' 
caught the applause of the masses and 
placed the young assemblyman high in 
the estimation of the people. 

"Immediately after his re-election in 
1883, Mr. Roosevelt began a canvass for 
the nomination of speaker. He was op- 
posed by all the machine politicians of 
his party, and it was a tribute to his skill 
and his personal qualities that notwith- 



ROOSEVELT. 75 

standing this opposition he had come 
very near success. It was fortunate that 
he failed, for he at once became the leader 
of the majority on the floor, and success- 
fully carried through the Legislature the 
series of bills which established his repu- 
tation as a lawmaker. 

"Among his other successful work in 
Albany, he organized a committee to in- 
vestigate the work of county officials in 
New York, as a result of which the 
county clerk, who had been receiving 
eighty-two thousand a year in fees; the 
sheriff, who had been taking one hundred 
thousand dollars, and the registrar,whose 
perquisites were also very large, all be- 
came salaried officials. After his third 
re-election in 1884, he introduced the 
Civil Service Law, a bold and revolution- 
ary political measure at that time. He 
worked hard for legislation for the bene- 
fit of New York City, and was exceeding- 
ly active in furthering all philanthropic 
bills and those measures having for their 
object the interests of the laboring men. 



76 EOOSEVELT. 

He was the man who instituted the move- 
ment for the abolition of tenement-house 
cigar factories. He was chairman of the 
noted Legislative Investigating Commit- 
tee, the Koosevelt Committee, which 
brought to light many of the abuses ex- 
isting in the city government at that 
time." 

Such men as Koosevelt dignify legis- 
lation and make nations great. 

At the Republican National Conven- 
tion at Chicago in 1884, Mr. Roosevelt 
took his place as a delegate, uninstructed, 
but in favor of Senator Edmunds for 
President as against James G. Blaine. He 
was defeated with Curtis and the rest of 
the men, most of whom sulked in their 
tents, and after a while became mug- 
wumps. But not so with Mr, Roosevelt. 
He left Chicago for Dakota, whither we 
will follow him and mark how he enjoys 
the luxury of frontier life. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CHIMNEY BUTTE RANCH: THE SPORTS- 
MAN ON THE PLAINS. 

We come now to some of the most ro- 
mantic experiences of Mr. Roosevelt's 
busy life. He has left the busy world of 
men and has sought the solitudes of the 
far West to live in a ranch and play the 
part of a cowboy and a sportsman. It 
will be impossible to give more than a 
very brief reference to these exciting 
times in the far West, but we commend 
to all young men the perusal of Roose- 
velt's own record of those eventful days. 
The book is entitled: "Hunting Trips of 
a Ranchman; Being Sketches of Sports 
on the North Cattle Plains." The book 
is a charm and an education. On the 
northwestern border of North Dakota, 
six hundred miles from St. Paul, where 
the Little Missouri winds its course 
77 



78 KOOSEVELT. 

through the heart of the Bad Lands, is 
the town of Medora, surrounded by huge 
buttes of scorched clay. 

"Eight or nine miles up the river from 
the little town," says Mr. Clemens, ''is 
'Chimney Butte,' the home ranch of Mr. 
Koosevelt Here the valley widens; the 
giant buttes have receded, leaving a wide 
stretch of bottom lands. A half-mile to 
the southwest stands one of those singu- 
lar formations so common to the Bad 
Lands, a long, slender pyramid capped 
with a large flat rock. This gives to the 
ranch its local name, although it is gen- 
erally called the 'Maltese Cross' ranch 
from the cowboy custom of calling 
ranches after the brand of the cattle 
herded there. The ranch proper is a story 
and a half high and built of hewed logs. 
The first story contains a kitchen, living 
room, and a private room for Mr. Roose- 
velt when he visits the ranch. Little con- 
sideration is given to sleeping apart- 
ments. Cowboys sleep anywhere; but in 
bad weather they spread their blankets 



ROOSEVELT. 79 

on the floor upstairs. To the right is the 
stable, while in front is the horse coiTal. 
This is built in circular form to prevent 
crowding and jamming in corners. When- 
ever a horse is wanted the whole herd is 
driven in. 

"The ranch building is most pic- 
turesque. From the low, long veranda, 
shaded by leafy cottonwoods, one can 
look across sand bars to a strip of 
meadow behind which rises the sheer 
cliffs. From the doorway of his ranch 
Mr. Roosevelt has killed a deer, and big 
game abounds in the vicinity. He has 
worked here in a flannel shirt and over- 
alls tucked into alligator boots, side by 
side with his cowboys during many an 
exciting round-up, at night to sleep on 
bear skins and buffalo robes, trophies 
of his skill as a hunter. 

"When he first went West they called 
him the 'four-eyed tenderfoot'— at least 
did some of the cowboys w^ho did not 
know him, for his reputation for courage 
was there before him, and a certain 



80 EOOSEVELT. 

ranchman who shared that reputation 
said he would like to run across such a 
^tenderfoot;' if he did, he was 'going to 
fill him full of holes.' This remark was 
carried to Mr. Roosevelt, who turned his 
horse and rode over toward his neigh- 
bor's house. Just what happened there 
no one knows, but neither of them was 
hurt and the ranchman thereafter was a 
good friend of the 'tenderfoot' 

"There are really no limits to the ranch 
property. The Bad Lands are unsurveyed 
government land, and from their nature 
can never be used for any other purpose 
than the present. The cattle range for 
miles and miles undisturbed. When left 
alone they naturally locate themselves, 
and the bulk of the herd can be found 
within a radius of forty miles, though 
scattered bands may drift as far as two 
hundred miles from the home ranch. A 
system of round-ups insures their recov- 
ery. Mr. Roosevelt owns two brands — 
tlie 'Elkhorn' and the 'Maltese Cross.' 
The Elkhorn ranch is located thirty miles 



ROOSEVELT. 81 

down the river from Medora. It was or- 
iginally intended to be the home ranch, 
and the buildings are much more elabor- 
ate and expensive than the Maltese 
Cross. But the two have been consolida- 
ted and administered from the latter, it 
being a superior location." 

The whole region swarmed with game 
of all sorts, more especially elk, deer and 
mountain sheep. Mr. Roosevelt learned 
much and enjoyed more during his first 
year of cowboy life on the plains. The 
next summer he came again and hunted 
all sorts of big game. He tells the fol- 
lowing graphic story of an interview he 
had with a grizzly in Idaho. The bear 
was wounded and charged with manifest 
anger. 

"I held true, aiming behind the shoul- 
der," says Mr. Roosevelt, "and my bullet 
shattered the point or lower end of his 
heart, taking out a big nick. Instantly 
the great bear turned with a harsh roar 
of fury and challenge, blowing the bloody 
foam from his mouth, so that I saw the 



82 EOOSEVELT. 

gleam of his white fangs; and then he 
charged straight at me, crashing and 
bounding through the laurel bushes, so 
that it was hard to aim. I waited until 
he came to a fallen tree, raking him, as 
he topped it, with a ball, which entered 
his chest and went through the cavity 
of his bod}' ; but he neither swerved nor 
flinched, and at the moment I did not 
know that I had struck him. He came 
steadily on, and in another second was 
almost upon me. I fired for his forehead, 
but my bullet went low, entering his open 
mouth, smashing his lower jaw and going 
into the neck. I leaped to one side almost 
as I pulled the trigger; and through the 
hanging smoke the first thing I saw was 
his paw, as he made a vicious side blow at 
me. The rush of his charge carried him 
past. As he struck he lurched forward, 
leaving a pool of bright blood where his 
muzzle hit the ground; but he recovered 
himself, and made two or three jumps 
onward, while I hurriedly jammed a 
couple of cartridges into the magazine. 



ROOSEVELT 83 

my rifle holding only four, all of which 
I had fired. Then he tried to pull up, but 
as he did so his muscles seemed suddenly 
to give way, his head drooped, and he 
rolled over and over like a shot rabbit. 
Each of my first three bullets had in- 
flicted a mortal wound." This Mr. 
Roosevelt calls his most thrilling mo- 
ment. 

Very delightful too is his description 
of a night ride on the plains: 

"For nine hours we rode steadily 
across the moonlit prairie. The hoof- 
beats of our horses rang out in steady 
rhythm through the silence of the night, 
otherwise unbroken, save now and then 
by the wailing cry of a coyote. The roll- 
ing plains stretched out on all sides of 
us, shimmering in the clear moonlight, 
and occasionally a band of spectral look- 
ing antelopes swept silently away from 
before our party." 

How he loved his horse let these words 
tell: 

"For him is the joy of the horse well 



84 ROOSEVELT. 

ridden and the rifle well held; for him 
the long days of toil and hardship reso- 
lutely endured, and crowned at the end 
with triumph. In after years there shall 
come forever to his mind the memory of 
endless prairies shimmering in. the bright 
sun; of vast snow-clad wastes lying des- 
olate under gray skies; of melancholy 
marches; of the rush of mighty rivers; of 
the breath of the evergreen forest in 
summer; of the crooning of ice-armored 
pines at the touch of the winds of win- 
ter; of cataracts roaring between hoary 
mountain masses; of all the innumerable 
sights and sounds of the wilderness; of 
its immensity and mystery, and of the 
silence that broods in its still depths." 

We all think of Mr. Roosevelt as brave 
and rugged, but he can write with the 
pen of a poet as witness this description 
of the night song of the mocking bird: 

"The mocking bird is a singer that has 
suffered much from its powers of mim- 
icry. On ordinary occasions, and espe- 
cially in the daytime, it insists on play- 



EOOSEVELT. 85 

ing the harlequin. But when free in its 
own favorite haunts at night, in the love 
season, it has a song, or rather songs, 
which are not only purely original, but 
are also more beautiful than any other 
bird music whatsoever. Once I listened 
to a mocking bird singing the livelong 
spring night, under the full moon, in a 
magnolia tree; and I do not think I shall 
ever forget its song. 

"The great tree was bathed in a flood 
of shining silver; I could see each twig, 
and mark every action of the singer, who 
was pouring forth such a rapture of ring- 
ing melody as I have never listened to 
before or since. Sometimes he would 
perch motionless for many minutes, his 
body quivering and thrilling with the 
outpour of music. Then he would drop 
softly from twig to twig till the lowest 
limb was reached, when he would rise, 
fluttering and leaping through the 
branches, his song never ceasing for an 
instant until he reached the summit of 
the tree and launched into the warm 



8G 'ROOSEVELT. 

scent laden air, floating in spirals, with 
outspread wings, until, as if spent, while 
his song rose into an ecstasy of ardor 
and passion. His voice rang like a 
clarionet in rich, full tones, and his ex- 
ecution covered the widest possible com- 
pass; theme followed theme, a torrent 
of music, a swelling tide of harmony, in 
which scarcely any two bars were alike. 
I stayed till midnight listening to him; 
he was singing when I went to sleep; he 
was still singing when I woke a couple 
of hours later; he sang through the live- 
long night. * » » 

"Yet in certain moods a man cares less 
for even the loveliest bird songs than 
for the wilder, harsher, stronger sounds 
of the wilderness, the guttural booming 
and clucking of the prairie fowl and the 
great sage fowl in spring; the honking 
of gangs of wild geese, as they fly in rapid 
wedges; the bark of an eagle, wheeling 
in the shadow of storm-scarred cliffs; or 
the far-off clanking of many sand-hill 
cranes, soaring high overhead in circles 



EOOSEVELT. 87 

which cross and recross at an incredible 
altitude. Wilder yet, and stranger, are 
the cries of the great four-footed beasts; 
the rhythmic pealing of a bull-elk's chal- 
lenge; and that most sinister and mourn- 
ful sound, ever-fraught with foreboding 
and rapine, the long-drawn baying of 
the gray wolf." 

He always speaks with great modesty 
of his prowess as a marksman. "I my- 
self am not and never will be more than 
an ordinai-y shot, for my eyes are bad 
and my hand not over steady; yet I have 
killed every kind of game to be found on 
the plains, partly because I have hunted 
on the plains, partly because I have 
hunted very perseveringly, and partly 
because by practice I have learned to 
shoot about as well at a wild animal as 
at a target." 

A correspondent of the New York 
"Herald" writing from Medora, in 1895, 
tells an anecdote of Mr. Roosevelt too 
good to be forgotten: "For a long time 
after he had established his ranches the 



88 ROOSEVELT. 

feeling between the outlaw element and 
the cattlemen ran high. It culminated 
in a meeting, held in a little, unfinished 
freight shanty at Medora, for the purpose 
of banding the cattle owners together 
for mutual protection. It was openly 
hinted that a certain deputy sheriff was 
in collusion with the tough element. Not 
more than a score of quiet, determined 
men made up the meeting. The sheriff 
was present, an interested spectator. 
After some preliminary forms of or- 
ganization, Mr. Roosevelt got up and ad- 
dressed the meeting, or rather, addressed 
the sheriff. Never in the history of the 
frontier has such a speech been listened 
to. He openly accused the sheriff of dis- 
honesty and incompetence, and with the 
reflected light from the officer's pearl- 
handled revolver at his belt flashing 
across his gold-rimmed glasses, the 
speaker scored him as a man unworthy 
and unfit for his office. It is one thing 
to deliver a fiery accusation of general 
or personal charges at a crowded meet- 



ROOSEVELT. 89 

ing of law-abiding people. It is another 
to coolly stand before a silent handful of 
frontiersmen and openly accuse one of 
dishonesty. Death stares closely in the 
face of the man who dares attempt it, for 
these men, bred in isolation, are sensitive 
to the quick on their personal honor, and 
an accusation that would be laughed at 
in Cooper Union would eat out a man's 
heart here. With downcast head the 
sheriff said never a Avord, but his prestige 
was gone forever." 

It is interesting to know that in all 
these wanderings in the Far West, Mr. 
Roosevelt took his little library of mod- 
ern classics with him. Books of natural 
history, Irving and Hawthorne and Poe 
were great favorites of his, and Robert 
Burns was a constant companion. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THREE GREAT OFFICES— CIVIL SERVICE, 
POLICE COMMISSIONER, UNDER- 
SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. 

Step by step the young politician 
climbed to posts of importance and high 
responsibility. 

In 1886 Mr. Roosevelt was the candi- 
date of the Republican party for Mayor 
of New York. His opponents were 
Abram S. Hewitt and Henry George. 
He made a brave and fearless fight, but 
he was defeated. Nevertheless he re- 
ceived the largest number of votes ever 
polled by a Republican candidate for the 
office. 

In the spring of 1889, Mr. Roosevelt 
was appointed a Civil Service Commis- 
sioner by President Benjamin Harrison. 
To the many trying and exacting tasks 
of his important office the new incumbent 
addressed himself with vigor and deter- 

90 



ROOSEVELT. 91 

mination. To conduct examinations and 
reports was in his judgment time wasted 
unless it was associated with the thor- 
ough working out o^ the whole plans and 
purposes set forth in the Civil Service 
Law. He made friends and enemies in 
the prosecution of his commission. He 
fought with ungloved hands the spoils- 
man and the bribe-giver, and was deter- 
mined that while he was in commission 
the Civil Service Law should be honored 
"in spirit and purpose as well as letter. 
If difficulties beset his path by reason of 
official tardiness or from any more ques- 
tionable cause, he had a very simple 
method. He would place the matter in 
all its details before the President If in 
a reasonable time no notice was taken of 
the matter, he would hand the whole 
subject over to the press. His perfect 
frankness won for him great popular fa- 
vor and confidence. There was nothing 
hidden, nothing concealed, everything 
was as clear as the day, as transparent 
as the light. When President Cleveland 



92 ROOSEVELT. 

came into office Mr. Roosevelt was re- 
tained in office, but it was with the ex- 
press understanding that he was to be 
perfectly free to investigate whatever he 
believed to be in any sense crooked. He 
was to be untrammeled in speech and 
action. 

Here is a characteristic Roosevelt let- 
ter addressed to the chairman of the 
Committee on Reform in the Civil Serv- 
ice of the Fifty-third Congress; under 
dateof May 25, 1894: 

"Congressman Williams, of Missis- 
sippi, attacked the commission in sub- 
stance because, under the commission, 
white men and men of color are treated 
with exact impartiality. As to this I 
have only to say, that so long as the pres- 
ent commissioners continue their official 
existence they will not make, and so far 
as in their power lies, will refuse to allow 
others to make, any discrimination] what- 
soever for or against any man because of 
his color, any more than because of his 
politics or religion. We do equal and 



ROOSEVELT. 93 

exact justice to all, and I challenge Mr. 
Williams or any one else to show a single 
instance where the commission has 
failed to do this. Mr. Williams specified 
the Railway Mail Service in Mississippi 
as being one in which negroes are em- 
ployed. The books of the Railway Mail 
Service for the division including South 
Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama 
and Mississippi were shown me yester- 
day, and according to these books about 
three-fourths of the employees are white 
and one-fonrth colored. Under the last 
administration it was made a reproach 
to us that we did full and entire justice 
to the Southern Democrats, and that 
through our examinations many hun- 
dreds of them entered the classified serv- 
ice, although under a Republican admin- 
istration. Exactly in the same way it is 
now made a reproach to us that under 
our examinations honest and capable 
colored men are given an even chance 
with honest and capabh^ white men. I 
esteem this reproach a high compliment 



94 ROOSEVELT. 

to the commission, for it is an admission 
that the commission has rigidly done its 
duty as required by law without regard 
to politics or religion, and without re- 
gard to color. 
"Very respectfully, 

"THEODORE ROOSEVELT." 

Beyond all question one of the grand- 
est services any man ever rendered to his 
country was the service Mr. Roosevelt 
renderd to America in his conduct of 
Civil Service Commission. That service 
will have beneficial influences on the 
state when we have all been long sleep- 
ing in our graves. 

On the 6th of May, 1895, on the in- 
vitation of William L. Strong, recently 
elected Mayor of New York, Mr. Roose- 
velt became the President of the new 
Board of Police Commissioners. The 
New York Police Department reeked 
with abuses. The new Commissioner de- 
clared they were directly the result of 
the intrusion of politics into the Police 



ROOSEVELT. 95 

Department. The famous Lexow investi- 
gation revealed that the rank and file 
and the highest officers of the force were 
guilty of levying blackmail upon liquor 
dealers and keepers of evil resorts for 
"protecting" them in their nefarious 
callings and in the deliberate violation 
of the law. "The finest in the world" was 
in bad odor. 

The annual parade of the police force 
in New York was omitted this year, 
which looked as though serious business 
was on hand. 

"Within a month," says a writer in a 
well-known magazine — McClure's — "Mr. 
Roosevelt was the most hated as well as 
the best loved man in New York. With 
characteristic clearness of vision he had 
determined at once on a course of action, 
and having determined upon it he pro- 
ceeded with something of the energy of 
a steam engine to put it into force. His 
reasoning had all the simplicity of orig- 
inality. He was appointed to enforce the 
laws as they appeared on the statute 



96 ROOSEVELT. 

6ooks. He enforced them. That was 
originality; it rarely had been done be- 
fore. The excise law compelling saloons 
to close on Sunday had been enforced 
against the poorer saloon keepers in or- 
der that the police might levy blackmail 
on the wealthy liquor dealers. Mr. 
Roosevelt enforced it impartially against 
both rich and poor. To him a dead letter 
law was as bad as hypocrisy in the 
church." 

Brynes, the once powerful Superin- 
tendent of Police, fell from place and 
power. 

Mr. Roosevelt's life was threatened. 
Sensational newspapers abused him with 
unwonted bitterness. Members of his 
own board were against him. But he 
stood firm as a rock. 

To all assaults and threats Mr. Roose- 
velt made this bold answer: 

"I am here to enforce the law as I find 
it. I shall enforce it. If you don't like 
the law repeal it." 

We here quote a most interesting pas- 




HALL OK lU:i'Ki:sKXr.\li\-i;s, WASTIIXGTON 



ROOSEVELT. 97 

sage from a paper contributed to Mun- 
sey's Magazine by Mr. Roosevelt on "The 
Ethnology of the Police": 

"For the professional 'know nothing' I 
soon grew to feel much distrust. I al- 
ways endeavored to keep my temper with 
every one, and to listen patiently to every 
complaint, but when one man attacked 
another because of his creed or his birth- 
place, I got rid of him in summary 
fashion. I treated with equal shortness 
those who sought to have a man ad- 
vanced because of his creed. I remember 
that on one occasion I received, on the 
same day, a letter from a certain agitator 
much given to attacking Catholics, urg- 
ing the promotion of a certain man be- 
cause he was a Protestant, and, as he as- 
serted, had been kept down by Catholic 
influence; and two others letters, one 
fromj a priest and one from a professional 
politician, urging the promotion of an- 
other man because he had weight in 
'Catholic Irish circles,' and because they 
thought the Catholic Irish entitled to 



98 ROOSEVELT. 

'recognition.' For a moment I thought 
of refusing to investigate the record and 
capacity of either man. Finally I did in- 
vestigate, and found that they were both 
bad. I took the utmost pleasure in writ- 
ing to their various backers that the men 
were unfit for promotion, and that even 
if they were fit, I should certainly decline 
to promote them when they relied on 
such arguments for advancement. I 
added that I should positively refuse to 
'recognize' any creed, or any nationality, 
or anything else except fitness. In other 
words, if there were ten promotions, and 
the best ten candidates were Jews, they 
would secure all the prizes, but if they 
were not the best, then none of them 
would be promoted; and no consideration 
as to 'recognizing' any body of men, or 
any nationality, would enter into the 
matter one way or the other, whether 
they were Jews, Catholics, or Protest- 
ants." 

On the 6th of April, 1897, Mr. Roose- 
velt accepted the call of President Mc- 



ROOSEVELT. 99 

Kinley, to be Assistant Secretary of the 
Navy Department 

Of his fitness for the post there could 
be little question. Added to the reputa- 
tion he had recently won as one of the 
most capable men of affairs in America, 
was the standing proof of his thorough 
and exhaustive knowledge of all naval 
matters in his* "History of the Naval War 
of 1812." Eoosevelt was soon master of 
all the duties of his office. He was among 
the very first to boldly announce that 
war was imminent with Spain. He was 
a born fighter and believed in fighting 
men. He held this theory: 

"All the great masterful races have 
been fighting races. Cowardice in a race, 
as in an individual, is the unpardonable 
sin. The timid man who cannot fight, 
or the selfish, short-sighted, or foolish 
man who will not) take the steps that will 
enable him to fight, stand on almost the 
same plane." 

He was a diligent student of the signs 

L. of C. 



100 ROOSEVELT. 

of the times, and a year before war was 
declared with Spain he said: 

"The enemies we may have to face will 
come from over sea; they may come from 
Europe, or they may come from Asia. 
Events move fast in the West; but this 
generation has been forced to see that 
they move even faster in the oldest East. 
Our interests are as great in the Pacific 
as in the Atlantic, in the Hawaiian 
Islands as in the West Indies. Merely 
for the protection of our own shores, we 
need a great navy ; and what is more, we 
need it to protect our interests in the 
islands from which it is possible to com- 
mand our shores and to protect our com- 
merce on the high seas." 

W^hen the cloud "no bigger than a 
man's hand" appeared on the horizon he 
set to work with most admirable vigor. 
The new warships were hurried on to 
completion, old ships were repaired, the 
crew of every ship was recruited to its 
full strength, and the coal bins were all 



ROOSEVELT 



101 




102 ROOSEVELT. 

filled with coal. He acted on Hamlet's 
advice: 

"If it be not now, it is to come. 
If it is not to come, it will be now, 
The readiness is all." 

He would have no fooling, no half- 
hearted work. He said to a friend, "In 
ordinary routine matters if a man does 
ordinarily well, I am satisfied, but if he 
doesn't do the work of importance in the 
Navy with the snap and vigor I believe is 
necessary, I'll cinch him till he squeals." 

It is interesting to know that Roose- 
velt was directly responsible for Dewey's 
appointment to the Asiatic Squadron. 
It was furthermore through Eoosevelt 
that the "Olympia" was detained at 
Hong Kong after being ordered home. 
On February 25th, Mr. Roosevelt sent a 
confidential dispatch to Dewey, in which 
he said: 

"Order the squadron, except 'Mono- 
cacy,' to Hong Kong. Keep full of coal. 
In the event of declaration of war with 
Spain your duty will be to see that the 



ROOSEVELT. 103 

Spanish squadron does not leave the 
Asiatic coast, and then assume offensive 
operations in the Philippine Islands. Keep 
^Olympia' until further orders." 

A footnote by the Bureau of Naviga- 
tion says: " 'Olympia' had had orders to 
proceed to United States." This dis- 
patch of Mr. Roosevelt's was the first 
that was sent by our government in re- 
gard to the taking of the Philippines. 

Moreover, it was largely owing to 
Dewey that the famous order was sent to 
"capture or destroy" the Spanish fleet. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ROMANCE OF THE ROUGH RIDERS- 
GATHERING OF THE CLANS. 

Broadcloth, buckskin, coats of blue or tan. 

Strip it off for action, and beneath you'll find a 

man. 
The boy that bucked the center and the lad that 

roped the steer 
Chums in fighting fellowship — charging with a 

cheer. 

Their horses are picketed leagues away. 

Their sabers are on the nail; 
They have taken the rifle at break of day, 

They have taken the narrow trail. 

The shimmering blade of the bayonet 

Is red in the downing sun; 
'Twill burn with a ruddier crimson yet 

Or ever the work is done. 

"Now, why do the scavenger grave-crabs go 

A-cluttering down the dell?" 
"O, ask of the vulture hovering low; 

It may be that he can tell." 
104 



ROOSEVELT. 105 

"Is yonder the gleam of a mountain stream 
'Mid 'boscage, creeper and root?" 

"Quick! drop ye down in the jungle brown 
And cuddle your stock, and shoot!" 

The hunter stripped to the cartridge belt 
And stalked in the seething maze; 

The Indian fighters crawled and knelt 
And pulled at the rifle blaze. 

Kentucky fought with a grim delight 
And Texas with his soul; 
But the football rusher reared his height 
And plunged for the deadly goal. 

They yelled disdain of the driving rain 

Of steel that drilled and tore; 
If the wounded sobbed it was not for pain, 

But that they could fight no more. 

Then, volleying low at the hidden foe, 

They rushed him — two to ten; 
They were trained in the rule of an iron school. 

And they were their Colonel's men. 

From thicket to thicket, and glade to glade. 

And out to the jungle's marge, 
They harried him back o'er a clotted track 

And formed for the final charge. 

Hark to the swell of the Rebel yell, 

The bugle calm and clear. 
The "uh-luh-luh-loo" of the tameless Sioux 

And the roar of the Saxon cheer! 



106 KOOSEVELT. 

The Baresark awoke in the Teuton folk; 

The Roman was born anew; 
The pride of the blood of the Maccabiee 

Revived in the fighting Jew; 

While, up on the right, like a storm at night, 

Rilled with the riving flame, 
Their eyes ashine, in a steadfast line, 

The negro troopers came. 

Sons of the Past!— her best and last— 

At Freedom's bugle call. 
The Races sweep to the conquered keep 

The flag that shelters all. 

In peace ye prate of the needs of state 

And winnow your meager souls, 
Refining if this be truly great, 

And quake at clouded goals. 

When we trust our weal to the clashing steel, 

The Land calls forth her own; 
Then it's Ho! for the men of heart and brain. 

And blood and brawn and bone! 

Broadcloth, buckskin, garb of blue or tan,— 
Rip it with a bullet and beneath you'll find a man. 
Ebon-featured regular, swarthy volunteer. 
Chums in fighting-fellowship— charging with a 
cheer. 

— Arthur Guiterman. 



ROOSEVELT. 107 

On the 6th of May, 1898, a memorable 
scene was enacted in the office of Adju- 
tant-General Corbin, in the presence of 
a goodly company composed of leading 
army officers, senators, representatives 
and others. The occasion was the swear- 
ing in of Mr. Theodore Koosevelt as 
Lieutenant-Colonel of United States 
Volunteers, to serve with the regiment 
of mounted riflemen, to be made up 
mainly of plainsmen and rough riders. 
The oath was administered by General 
Corbin. Eoosevelt's determination to 
enter personally into the conflict between 
the United States and Spain was, to re- 
peat the phrase we have already used 
with emphasis — "Rooseveltian." Before 
Dewey left the sleepy waters of Hong 
Kong to shake the silence of Manila Bay 
with terrific storm Roosevelt had made 
up his mind and said to a friend : "There 
is nothing more for me to do here," re- 
ferring to his position in the Navy De- 
partment, "I've got to go into the fight 
myself." His friends said he was not 



108 KOOSEVELT. 

wise, and dogmatic editors, who knew 
not only everything that was, but every- 
thing that was going to be, prophesied 
that Eoosevelt would "ruin his career." 
He resigned nevertheless, in due and offi- 
cial form. 

The correspondence which passed be- 
tween Secretary Long and Mr. Roosevelt 
with reference to his retirement from the 
Navy Department is well worth preserv- 
ing. Under date of May G, 1898, Mr. 
Roosevelt wrote to Secretary Long, in- 
closing a letter to the President tender- 
ing his resignation as Assistant Secre- 
tary of the Navy, saying: 

"My Dear Mr. Secretary: Let me add 
one word personally. I don't suppose I 
shall ever have a chief under whom I 
shall enjoy serving as I have enjoyed 
serving under you, nor one toward whom 
I shall feel the same affectionate regard. 
It is a good thing for a man to have, as 
I have had in you, a chief whose whole 
conduct in office, as seen by those most 
intimately connected wath him, has been 



EOOSEVELT. 109 

guided solely by resolute disinterested- 
ness and single-minded devotion to the 
public interest. 

"I hate to leave you more than I can 1 
say. I deeply appreciate, and am deeply 
touched by, the confidence you have put 
in me and the more than generous and 
kindly spirit you have always shown 
toward me. I have grown not merely to 
respect you as my superior officer, but to 
value your friendship very highl}^; and I 
trust I have profited by association with 
one of the most high-minded and upright 
public servants it has been my good for- . 
tune to meet." 

Secretary Long replied under date of 
May 7, as follows : 

"My Dear Mr. Koosevelt: I have your 
letter of resignation to the President, 
but, as I have told you many times, I 
have it with the utmost regret. I have 
often expressed, perhaps too emphatical- 
ly and harshly, my conviction that you 
ought not to leave the post of Assistant 
Secretary of the Navy where your serv- 



110 KOOSEVELT. 

ices have not only been of such great 
value, but of so much inspiration to me 
and to the whole service. But now that 
you have determined to go to the front, 
I feel bound to say that, while I do not 
approve of the change, I do most heartily 
appreciate the patriotism and the sin- 
cere fidelity to your convictions which 
actuate you. 

"Let me assure you how profoundly I 
feel the loss I sustain in your going. 
Your energy, industry and great knowl- 
edge of naval interests, and especially 
your inspiring influence in stimulating 
and lifting the whole tone of the person- 
nel of the navy, have been invaluable. I 
cannot close this reply to your letter 
without telling you also what an affec- 
tionate personal regard I have come to 
feel for you as a man of the truest tem- 
per and most loyal friendship. I rejoice 
that one who has so much capacity for 
public service and for winning personal 
friendships has the promise of so many 



ROOSEVELT. ni 

years of useful and loving life before 
him." 

Mr. Roosevelt's letter to the President 
was as follows: 

"I have the honor herewith to tender 
my resignation through the Secretary of 
the Navy, and at his request make it take 
effect when you desire. It is with the 
greatest reluctance that I sever my con- 
nection with your administration, and I 
only do it because I hope thereby to have 
the chance to take an even more active 
part in carrying out one of the great 
works of your administration— the free- 
ing of Cuba and the driving of Spain from 
the western hemisphere. I shall always 
deeply appreciate your kindness to me, 
and shall always try to show myself 
worthy of the trust you have reposed in 
me." 

The President's answer through Secre- 
tary Porter was as follows: 

"My Dear Mr. Secretary: Although 
the President was obliged to accept your 
resignation of recent date, I can assure 



112 KOOSEVELT. 

you that lie has done so with very great 
regret. Only the circumstances men- 
tioned in your letter and your decided 
unchangeable preference for your new 
patriotic work has induced the President 
to consent to your severing your present 
connection with the administration. 
Your services here during your entire 
term of ofQce have been faithful, able 
and successful in the highest degree, and 
no one appreciates this fact more keenly 
than the President himself. Without 
doubt your connection with the navy will 
be beneficially felt in several of its de- 
partments for many years to come. 

"In the President's behalf, therefore, I 
wish at this time to thank you most 
heartily and to wish jou all success in 
your new and important undertaking, for 
which I hope and predict a brilliantly 
victorious result. 

"John Addison Porter." 

No sooner was it known that Eoose- 
velt was goius; to form a regiment than 




UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 




UNITED STATES POSTOFFICF. 



ROOSEVELT. 113 

the clans began to gather from hill and 
vale, from North and South and East and 
West. 

'Tor the few days that he remained at 
his desk in the Xavy Department," says 
Mr. Clemens, "his office was crowded to 
overflowing with an assemblage of cow- 
boys, plainsmen, college students, and ex- 
policemen of the New York force, who 
were among those anxious to join the 
command of which Mr. Roosevelt was to 
be Lieutenant-Colonel. The callers were 
decidedly unique in appearance. The 
plainsmen and rough riders wore broad- 
brimmed sombreros, and gave an unmis- 
takable evidence of their ability to round 
up a herd of refractory steers. They 
were all tall, well-built, athletic fellows, 
bronzed from exposure, and the picture 
of health and endurance. There were 
several young Englishmen in the motley 
gathering who had preferred this service 
as more exciting than ranching. Three 
ex-policemen of the New York force were 
in the party, looking quite as stalwart as 



114 ROOSEVELT. 

the ranchmen. There was a sprinkling 
also of 'tenderfeet' coming from the col- 
leges and universities, as well as from 
great social centers. 

"Clubmen, who were also horsemen, 
friends and acquaintances of Mr. Roose- 
velt, applied for the honor of joining him 
in this interesting crusade. Among those 
accepted from the New York clubs were 
Woodbury Kane, William Tiffany, Craig 
Wadsworth, and Reginald Ronalds. 
Woodbury Kane, a younger brother of 
Colonel De Lancey Kane, was a noted 
polo player and cross-country rider. He 
had hunted not only in America, but 
with the more famous packs of England. 
He was a graduate of Harvard. Craig 
Wadsworth had been one of the best rid- 
ers in the Genessee Valley Hunt Club 
for several years, and a skillful cotillion 
leader. William Tiffany was a nephew 
of Mrs. August Belmont and a grand- 
nephew of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, 
the hero of the battle of Lake Erie. 
Reginald Ronalds was a son of Mrs. 



ROOSEVELT. 115 

Pierre Lorillard Ronalds. He was a grad- 
uate of Yale, and was one of the best 
players on the 'Varsity eleven." 

The regiment also included among its 
members Hamilton Fish, Jr., a son of 
Nicholas Fish; Townsend Burden, Jr., a 
son of I. Townsend Burden; Dudley Dean, 
the famous football quarterback; Guy 
Munchie, the coach; Bull, of the Harvard 
'Varsity crew, and Hollister, one of the 
best half-mile runners in the country. 
All these young men were recent grad- 
uates of or students at Harvard. Among 
the graduates of Princeton enrolled in 
the regiment were Horace Devereaux, 
of Colorado Springs, who was a crack 
football player during his college term, 
and Basil Ricketts, a son of General 
Ricketts, of the United States Army. 

Mr. Roosevelt did not very heartily ap- 
prove of the title "Rough Riders" at the 
first. He thought it might be to some ex- 
tent misleading. But it seemed on the 
whole the most appropriate name that 
could be found. 



116 ROOSEVELT. 

The colonelcy of the regiment was 
given to Dr. Leonard Wood, of Massa- 
chusetts, a captain and assistant surgeon 
of regulars, then on duty in Washington 
in personal attendance on the President 
and Secretary of War. Mr. Roosevelt 
paid the following compliment to Dr. 
Wood in "KScribner's": "He had served 
in General Miles' inconceivably harass- 
ing campaigns against the Apaches, 
where he had displayed such courage 
that he won that most coveted of distinc- 
tions — the medal of honor; such extraor- 
dinary physical strength and endurance 
that he grew to be recognized as one of 
the two or three white men who could 
stand fatigue and hardship as well as an 
Apache; and such judgment that toward 
the close of the campaigns he was given, 
though a surgeon, the actual command 
of more than one expedition against the 
bands of renegade Indians. Like so many 
of the gallant fighters with whom it was 
later my good fortune to serve, he com- 
bined, in a very high degree, the qual- 



ROOSEVELT. 117 

ities of entire manliness with entire up- 
rightness and cleanliness of character. 
It was a pleasure to deal with a man of 
high ideals, who scorned everything 
mean and base, and who also possessed 
those robust and hardy qualities of body 
and mind, for the lack of which no merely 
negative virtue can ever atone. He was by 
nature a soldier of the highest type, and 
like most natural soldiers, he was, of 
course, born with a keen longing for ad- 
venture; and, though an excellent doctor, 
what he really desired was the chance 
to lead men in some kind of hazard." 

It would be impossible to exaggerate 
the wild enthusiasm with which the 
Rough Riders rallied around their leader. 
Theodore Roosevelt was the idol of his 
comrades. A somewhat rough and vigor- 
ous poem appeared in the "Criterion" of 
New York from the pen of Mr. H. W. 
Phillips. The "boys" had given their 
Lieutenant Colonel the name of "Laugh- 
ing Horse" and it sticks to him yet. 



118 ROOSEVELT. 

"So, Teddy, you've come to your own again! 

I thought it was mighty strange 
That you had forgotten the good old times 

And the friends of the cattle range. 
But now the old gun has been polished up. 

And I'm ready to cross the sea 
And ride with you, Teddy Roosevelt! 

Old 'Laughing Horse' for me! 

"Together we've ridden the range, my lad, 

And slept on the ground o' night; 
And you were the boy for a high old time, 

A cuss in a stand-up fight. 
Besides, you were square as a die, old pard. 

And all that a man should be. 
So I'm with you, Teddy Roosevelt, 

Old 'Laughing Horse' for me! 

"The boys have just whooped to your call, my 
lad. 
From the hot desert Texan trail 
To where the wild yell of the blizzard's sweep 

Makes mock of the coyote's wail. 
They'll stay at your back till your chest caves in, 

And screech in the thick of the fuss: 
"Sock h — 11 to 'm! Teddy Roosevelt! 
Old 'Laughing Horse' for us." 

"Now, I don't know what the row's all about, 

But my trail lies before me plain; 
For, Teddy, you've said that the thing to do 
Is to wallop the hide off Spain. 



KOOSEVELT. 119 

So here we go off again fresh, my lad, 
And the Greasers will d n soon see 

That I'm with you, Teddy Roosevelt! 
Old 'Laughing Horse' for me!" 



CHAPTER IX. 

ON TO SANTIAGO. 
LAS GUASIMAS AND SAN ' JUAN. 

The limits of this volume are such that 
it will be impossible to give more than 
a brief reference to the stirring scenes at 
Las Guasimas and Santiago that have 
given the Rough Riders such enviable 
fame. Governor Roosevelt has published 
a most graphic account of this heroic 
episode in his eventful career. To that 
charming volume, the thrilling chapters 
of which first appeared in Scribner's 
Magazine for 1899, w^e cordially com- 
mend our readers. 

At daybreak on the 24th of June, 1898, 
the Rough Riders and the regulars, led 
by Colonel Wood and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Roosevelt went with a bold and daunt- 
less bearing into the first fight which is 

130 



ROOSEVELT. 121 

known as the Battle of Las Guasimas, 
so called from the large number of nut- 
bearing Las Guasimas trees in the im- 
mediate neighborhood. 

The men were all eager for the fray. 
Tired and worn and hungry, they were 
spoiling for a fight. 

'*Our first fight," says Colonel Roose- 
velt, "was at Las Guasimas. It is the 
veriest nonsense to speak of it as an am- 
bush. We knew just where the Spanish 
were. And General Young, with the 
First and Tenth Regulars, with Colonel 
Wood, who had our Rough Riders, said 
that they should march b^^ different 
routes, and hit the Spaniards right and 
left at the same time. Colonel Wood 
struck those two lines almost directly to- 
gether. It was a mountainous country, 
covered by thick jungles, and to force 
a pass defended by double our number 
caused a brisk fight with loss; but we 
forced it. 

"There must have been nearly fifteen 
hundred Spaniards in front and to the 



122 EOOSEVELT. 

sides of us. They held the ridges with 
rifle pits and machine guns and hid a 
body of men in ambush in the thick jun- 
e;le at the sides of the road over which 
we were advancing. Our advance guard 
struck the men in ambush and drove 
them out. But we lost Captain Capron, 
Lieutenant Thomas, and about fifteen 
men killed or wounded. The Spanish 
firing was accurate — so accurate, in- 
deed, that it surprised me, and their 
firing was fearfully heavy. I want to 
say a word for our own men. Every offi- 
cer and man did his duty up to the 
handle. Not a man flinched." 

In this fight Sergeant Hamilton Fish, 
Jr., and Captain Capron both fell to the 
unutterable sorrow of their comrades. 

Then came the terrible charge of San 
Juan. Colonel Roosevelt says: 

"The last day of June I took command 
of the regiment, Colonel Wood having 
been put in command of a brigade on the 
morning of the big fight, July 1. We 
were at first held in reserve, many of our 



EOOSEVELT. 123 

men being killed or wounded before we 
had a chance to fire a shot. It was at 
this fight that Captain O'Neill, of Ari- 
zona, was killed, a man who ranked with 
Capron in value to the regiment, a man 
as gallant as he was efficient. 

"At last we got the order to support 
the regulars and to make an assault on 
San Juan Hill in force. Moving forw^ard 
we had the honor to be the first to break 
through the line of the Spanish intrench- 
ments, storming the hills on the right 
of our front, together with the Ninth 
Cavalry and fragments of other regi- 
ments of the cavalry divisions of the 
First, Third, Sixth, and Tenth. 

"When we captured the hill we first 
turned our fire on a hill to our left, which 
w^as soon after carried by the infantry, 
and we then rushed another line of in- 
trenchments on the hills in our front. 
Having taken these, we swung on the 
left, and drove the Spaniards before until 
we took the chain of hills which imme- 
diately fronted the city of Santiago. 



124 ROOSEVELT. 

"These repeated changes, of course, 
caused much confusion in all the regi- 
ments, and we of the cavalry, when we 
had taken the chain of hills, found all of 
our six regiments gTeatly mixed. I was 
the highest officer left on the extreme 
front, and had portions of all six cavalry 
regiments under me, and I shall always 
cherish the liveliest feeling of brother- 
hood and respect for the officers and men, 
not only of my regiment, but of the en- 
tire cavalry division, with and alongside 
of whom I fought on that day and the 
days succeeding." 

When Colonel Roosevelt rode up that 
fatal hill, no one of all his followers ex- 
pected him to finish it alive. His coat 
was off, he wore a blue shirt and brown 
canvas trousers. Richard Harding Davis 
thus describes the scene: 

"Mounted on horseback and charging 
the rifle-pits at a gallop and quite alone, 
he made you feel that you would like to 
cheer. He wore on his sombrero a blue 
polka-dot handkerchief, which, as he ad- 



ROOSEVELT. 135 

vanced, floated out straight behind his 
head like a guidon. His was a splendid 
heroic figure, a romantic warrior, a veri- 
table knight of old." 

John S. Winter, Jr., who was a sharer 
in this terrible conflict, says: 

"A man for whom I had conceived 
quite a friendship during our voyage 
over was running bareheaded in front of 
me. Killed and wounded men were scat- 
tered around, and I was greatly affected 
by the sight of them; but the full signifi- 
cance of the phrase 'the art of war' burst 
upon me only when I saw my friend's 
head shot to pieces by an explosive bul- 
let. He fell with a thud, and I ran past 
his body. In a short time the enemy re- 
treated to Santiago. Our loss was twelve 
killed and about forty wounded ; the ene- 
my's loss about doubled that number. 

"The wounded were sent to a hospital 
on the coast, and the dead were collected 
for burial. This was a most impressive 
scene, and brought tears to the eyes of 
many. The men, wrapped in their blan- 



126 EOOSEVELT. 

kets, were laid side by side in one grave. 
The chaplain read the Episcopal burial 
service, and the regiment grouped around 
the grave and sang ^Nearer, My God, to 
Thee/ 'Taps' were sounded by the 
bugler, the grave was filled, and we slow- 
ly went back to our tents." 



CHAPTER X. 

GRAND RALLY OF ROUGH RIDERS: ROOSE- 
VELT'S ORATION. 

In the month of June, this present year 
1899, there was a grand reunion of the 
Rough Riders at Las Vegas, N. M. When 
Colonel Roosevelt, clad in his Rough 
Rider uniform, appeared in sight, 5,000 
people massed about the depot gave ut- 
terance to the wildest delight. When 
the Colonel looked about him for a mo- 
ment to recognize his old comrades, and 
then, with a genial smile, said: "I'm 
mighty glad to see you, boys," there rose 
a shout of welcome that shook the whole 
region round about. The business meet- 
ing of the Rough Riders Regimental As- 
sociation was held in the Duncan Opera 
House. Mr. A. A. Jones, on behalf of the 
citizens of Las Vegas, gave an address of 
welcome. He said in conclusion: 

127 



128 ROOSEVELT. 

"We are more than grateful to have as- 
sembled here from the various States and 
Territories this happy throng who join us 
in tendering to you our hospitality, love 
and affection." 

Colonel Roosevelt said in response: 

"Just at this time I would not have left 
New York State for any purpose save to 
attend the reunion of my old regiment, 
and for that purpose I would have gone 
to Alaska, or anywhere else, for the bond 
that unites us together is as close as any 
bond of human friendship can be. 

"It was our good fortune to be among 
those accepted when the country called 
to arms a year ago last spring, and when 
ten men volunteered for every one that 
could be chosen, I think I may say, with- 
out boasting, that the regiment did its 
duty in every way and that its record is 
subject for honorable pride, not only as 
regards the members themselves, but the 
country at large. I am proud of you be- 
cause you never complained and never 
flinched. When you went to war you 



EOOSEVELT. 



129 




ROOSEVELT ON SAN JUAN HILL. 



130 EOOSEVELT. 

knew you would not have an easy time; 
you expected to encounter hardships, and 
you toolv them without a murmur. You 
were all readiness to learn promptness 
and obedience, which make it possible to 
turn the American volunteer so soon into 
a first-class type of fighting man. 

"Of those who landed for the brief cam- 
paign in the tropical midsummer against 
Santiago, one-fourth were killed or 
wounded, and three-fourths of the re- 
mainder were, at one time or another, 
stricken down by fever. Many died, but 
there is not one among you so poor in 
spirit that he does not count fever, 
wounds and death itself as nothing com- 
pared Avith the honor of having been able 
to serve with the regiment under the flag 
of the United States in one of the most 
righteous wars which this century has 
seen. 

"This was a typical American regi- 
ment. The majority of its members came 
from the Southv^est, but not all. Wei had 
in our ranks Easterners, Westerners, 



KOOSEVELT. 131 

Northerners, Southerners, Catholics, 
Protestants, Jews, Gentiles — men whose 
parents were born in Germany or Ire- 
land, and men whose parents were born 
on the banks of the James, the Hudson 
and at Plymouth Ilock nearly three cen- 
turies ago; and all were Americans in 
heart and soul, in spirit and purpose — 
Americans, and nothing else. We knew 
no distinction or creed, birthplace, or 
residence. All the creed for us was that 
a man should do his duty, should show 
himself alert, patient and enduring, good 
in camp and on the march, and valiant in 
battle. 

"My comrades, the regiment was but a 
microcosm of our great country and the 
principles which enabled us to make 
so much out of it are those upon 
which we must act in the nation 
itself if we are to stand level to 
the needs of our great destiny. In 
administering this great country w^e 
must know no North, South, East or 
West; we must pay no heed to a man's 



132 ROOSEVELT. 

creed; we must be indifferent as to 
whether he is rich or poor, provided only 
he is indeed a good man, a good citizen, 
a good American. In our political and 
social life alike, in order to permanently 
succeed we must base our conduct on the 
Decalogue and the Golden Rule; we must 
put in practice those holy virtues, for the 
lack of which no intellectual brilliancy, 
no material prosperity can ever atone. It 
is a good thing for a nation to be rich, but 
it is a better thing for a nation to be the 
mother of men who possess the qualities 
of honesty, of courage and of common 
sense. 

"We have many great problems ahead 
of us, we Americans, as we stride along 
the road to national greatness — prob- 
lems of home administration and prob- 
lems that affect our dealings v»ith the 
outside world. We cannot solve them if 
we approach them in the spirit of levity 
or vain-glorious boastfulness; still less 
if we approach them in a spirit of timid- 
ity, and, least of all, if in dealing with 



KOOSEVELT. 133 

them we do not insist upon honesty and 
righteousness, upon that uprightness of 
character which is the keystone in the 
arch of true national greatness. The 
problems that rise from 3 ear to year dif- 
fer widely and must be met in widely 
different ways, and not one of them can 
be properly solved unless we approach 
it with rigid fearlessness and with a sin- 
cere purpose to do justice to all men, ex- 
acting it from others and exacting it no 
less from ourselves. 

"I am proud of the w^ay in which you 
have taken up the broken threads of your 
lives — in which you have gone back to 
the ranch, the mine and the counting 
room. In so doing you show yourselves 
to be typical American citizens, for it has 
always been the pride of our country 
that an American while most earnestly 
desirous of peace was ever ready to show 
himself a hard and dangerous fighter if 
need should rise, and that, on the other 
hand, when once the need had passed he 
could prove that war had not hurt him 



134 ROOSEVELT. 

for the work of peace, and that he was all 
the fitter to do this work for having done 
the other, too. We may be called to war 
but once in a generation and I most 
earnestly hope that we shall not have to 
face war again for many years. The 
duties of peace are always with us and 
these we must perform all our lives long, 
fromi year's end to year's end, if we are to 
prove ourselves in very fact good citi- 
zens of the commonwealth. We must 
work hard for the sake of those depend- 
ent upon us; we must see that our chil- 
dren are brought up in a way that will 
make them v/orthy of the great in- 
heritance which we, their fathers, have 
ourselves received from those that went 
before us. We must do our duty by the 
State. We must frown upon dishonesty 
and corruption and war for honesty and 
righteousness. 

"Let me say a word of those to whom 
our thoughts should turn at such a time, 
both among the living and among the 
dead, to our absent living comrades, and 



ROOSEVELT. 135 

especially toi our former commander, now 
Major-General Leonard Wood, whose ad- 
ministration of the Province of Santiago 
has reflected the utmost credit not merely 
upon himself, but upon the nation so for- 
tunate as to have him in her service. We 
send to them the heartiest and most loyal 
greeting. With these men we hope in 
the no distant future to strike hands 
again, and as long as we live and they 
live we shall all be bound together by 
most indissoluble ties. But when we come 
to speak of our dead comrades, of the 
men who gave their lives in the fierce 
rush of the jungle fighting, or who 
wasted to death in the fever camps, we 
can only stand with bared heads and 
pray that we may so live as at the end to 
die as worthily as these, our brothers, 
died. Allan Capron, in the sunny prime 
of youth, in his courage, his strength and 
his beauty; "Bucky" O'Neill, than whom 
in all the army there breathed no more 
dauntless soul — of these and other gal- 
lant comrades, the men who carried the 



136 ROOSEVELT. 

rifles in the ranks, all we can say is that 
they proved their truth by their endeavor 
that in the hour of our greatest need 
these rose level to the need and gallantly 
and cheerfully gave to their country the 
utmost that any man can give — their 
lives, for we read in the Holy Writ "that 
greater love hath no man than this, to 
lay down his life for a friend." 

"And these men so loved their country 
that they gallantly gave their lives for 
her honor and renown and for the uplift- 
ing of the human race. Now their work 
is over, their eyes are closed forever, their 
bodies molder in the dust, but the spirit 
that was in them cannot die and it shall 
live for time everlasting. 

"So much for our comrades of the regi- 
ment. Let us not forget our comrades 
who this summer are facing all that we 
faced last summer. Let us not forget the 
gallant men, the regulars and volunteers, 
who are upholding the honor of the flag 
and the interests of the nation in the 
Philippines. Surely there is not one of 



KOOSEVELT. 137 

us whose veins have not tingled with 
pride as he read of the gallantry of those 
men; and I suppose few of us have not 
thought at times that we should like our- 
selves to fight beside Lawton as we 
fought beside him last July, and to see 
if the Hough Riders could not do their 
share of the work with the splendid men 
who followed Funston, Hale and other 
daring leaders who, during the past six 
months have added so many new pages to 
the houor roll of American history. To 
our shame, be it said, there are men in 
this nation so indifferent to the country's 
honor, so lukewarm in patriotism and 
courage that they would let all the work 
of these men go for naught — let their 
blood be spilled in vain. But the houor 
of our battle is sounded and the puny 
folk who deem it otherwise are woefully 
mistaken in their countrymen. Where 
our flag has been raised it shall not be 
hauled down. If any difficulty seems 
greater than we expected it merely 
means we shall exert a little more 



138 KOOSEVELT. 

strength in overcoming. I read with 
pride the other day how both Senators 
from California, those of opposite politi- 
cal parties, joined in assuring the Presi- 
dent that California would stand like a 
rock behind him in seeing that there was 
no step back in the Philippines, and so I 
can assure him of the great State of 
which I have the honor to be the Gov- 
ernor. We stand ready to give him 
whatever he needs in men and money to 
put down the savagery to which we are 
opposed in the Philippines. He shall 
have all he wishes to put it down quickly, 
and whether it is put down quickly or 
not he shall have our support in ever in- 
creasing measure until the last spark of 
resistance has been stamped out. We 
want no peace talk with men who bear 
arms in their hands. When once they 
submit they shall be treated with abso- 
lute justice and equity and their rights 
most carefully guarded; but until they 
submit they must be taught with rough 
hands what it is to make war on the 



ROOSEVELT. 139 

American flag. There is no East and no 
West when we come to deal with ques- 
tions of this kind. The United States is 
to be the great power of the Pacific, and 
we men of the Atlantic Coast are good 
Westerners and are as resolutely bent 
upon upbuilding our power in the Pa- 
cific as the men on the Pacific slope them- 
selves. 

"We are a great nation. We must 
show ourselves great not only in the ways 
of peace but in the preparedness for war 
which best insures peace. We must up- 
build our navy and anny until they cor- 
respond to the new need which the new 
country will bring. Above all, my com- 
rades and my fellow-countrymen, we 
must build up in this country that spirit 
of social and civic honesty and courage 
which alone can make this nation reach 
the highest and most lasting greatness." 



CHAPTER XL 

CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF NEW 
YORK. 

The successful warrior is sure to be- 
come the idol of the people. There is no 
success like success in arms. The con- 
queror is about the only man who has not 
to wait until he is dead to receive the 
honor due to his name. Most men have 
to die, and then take out their share of 
honor in flattering funeral eulogies they 
cannot hear; and floral tributes, whose 
beauty they cannot see and whose frag- 
rance they cannot inhale. But the hero 
who comes back from the war a con- 
queror, hears the bugles blowing, and 
sees the banners in the sunshine and the 
fireworks at night. 

Moreover your successful warrior be- 
comes a persistent irresistible influence. 
Without a single effort on his part he is 

140 



ROOSEVELT. 141 

moved to the front. There is no help for 
it. It is the inevitable. Cromwell was 
the hero of Long Marston Moor and he 
was made Lord Protector of the Com- 
monwealth of England; the Duke of 
Wellington came triumphant from Wa- 
terloo to be made Prime Minister of Eng- 
land; General Grant rode in from the 
Appomatox to be made President of the 
United States, and Theodore Koosevelt 
came from Las Guasimas and the bloody 
heights of Santiago to be made Governor 
of New York. Certain of the New York 
Kepublieans began to talk of Roosevelt 
for Governor before the surrender of 
Santiago. A leader among the Repub- 
licans is reported as expressing a rapidly 
growing opinion when he said: 

"Governor Roosevelt is, without ques- 
tion, the most prominent Republican in 
the State at the present time. He would 
make a war candidate who would be in- 
vincible. His popularity extends all 
through the country districts, and is 
greater there than in New York City." 



142 KOOSEYELT. 

At this, some thoughtless demagogues 
laughed most heartily, as though it were 
a huge joke. But the day for the Re- 
publican Convention drew on apace. 
Leading Democrats began to recognize 
that there was danger in the air. On 
all hands the impression gathered 
strength that if Mr. Eoosevelt received 
the nomination he would surely succeed. 
The rank and file of the Republicans of 
the State were ready to follow Roosevelt 
with a zeal and enthusiasm equal to that 
of the gallant Rough Riders, because 
they believed he would lead them on to 
a successful battle against bossism and 
the machine, and that the reign of good 
government and pure politics would 
come. 

Governor Black was Roosevelt's only 
rival. On Tuesday, September 27, 1898, 
the Republican State Convention was 
held at Saratoga. The chairman was 
Senator Horace White, of Syracuse. 
Judge J. R. Cady, of Hudson, nominated 
Governor Black, and that most per- 



ROOSEVELT. 143 

suasive of orators, the Hon. Cliauncey 
M. Depew, nominated Theodore Koose- 
velt. The oration, which ranks among 
the finest classics of modern American 
oratory, was as follows: 

"Gentlemen: Not since 18G3 has the 
Republican party met in convention 
when the conditions of the country were 
so interesting or so critical. Then the 
emancipation proclamation of President 
Lincoln, giving freedom and citizenship 
to four million of slaves, brought about 
a revolution in the internal policy of our 
government which seemed to multitudes 
of patriotic men full of the gravest dan- 
gers to the republic. The effect of the 
situation was the sudden and violent 
sundering of the ties which bound the 
past to the present and the future. New 
problems were precipitated upon our 
statesmen to solve, which were not to be 
found in the text-books of the schools 
nor in the manuals of traditions of Con- 
gress. The one courageous, constructive 
party which our politics has kuowu for 



144 EOOSEVELT. 

half a century, solved those problems so 
successfully that the regenerated and 
disenthralled republic has grown and 
prospered under this new birth of liberty 
beyond all precedent and every predic- 
tion. 

"Now, as then, the unexpected has 
happened. The wildest dream ever born 
of the imagination of the most optimistic 
believer in our destiny could not foresee 
when McKinley was elected tw^o years 
ago the on-rushing torrent of events of 
the past three months. We are either to 
be submerged by this break in the dikes 
erected by Washington about our gov- 
ernment, or we are to find by the wise 
utilization of the conditions forced upon 
us how to be safer and stronger within 
our old boundaries, and to add incalcul- 
ably to American enterprise and oppor- 
tunity by becoming masters of the sea, 
and entering with the surplus of our 
manufactures the markets of the world. 
We cannot retreat or hide. We must 
'ride the waves and direct the storm.' A 




Ti;i:siI)ENT ROOSEVELT 
Takiiitc till' oath of office at fluft'alo. 
New York, September l-i. 1901. 



ROOSEVELT. 145 

war has been fought and won, and vast 
possessions, new and far away, have been 
acquired. In the short space of one hun- 
dred and thirteen days politicians and 
parties have been forced to meet new 
questions and to take sides upon start- 
ling issues. The face of the world has 
been changed. The maps of yesterday 
are obsolete. Columbus, looking for the 
Orient and its fabled treasures, sailed 
four hundred years ago into the land- 
locked harbor of Santiago, and to-day his 
spirit sees his bones resting under the 
flag of a new and great country which 
has found the way and conquered the 
outposts, and is knocking at the door of 
the farthest East. 

"The times require constructive states- 
men. As in 1776 and 1865, we need archi- 
tects and builders. A protective tariff, 
sound money — the gold standard, the re- 
tirement of the government from the 
banking business, and State issues are 
just as important as ever. Until three 
months ago to succeed we would have 



146 EOOSEVELT. 

had to satisfy the voters of the soundness 
and wisdom of our position on these 
questions. The cardinal principles of 
Eepublican policy will be the platform 
of this canvass and of future ones. But 
at this juncture the people have tem- 
porarily put everything else aside and 
are applying their whole thought to the 
war with Spain and its consequences. 
We believe that they think and will vote 
that our war with Spain was just and 
righteous. We cannot yet say that 
American constituencies have settled 
convictions on territorial expansion and 
the government of distant islands and 
alien races. We can say that Repub- 
lican opinion glories in our victories and 
follows the flag. 

"The resistless logic of events over- 
comes all other considerations and im- 
pels me to present the name of, as it will 
persuade you to nominate as our candi- 
date for Governor of the State of New 
York, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. If 
he were only the hero of a brilliant 



ROOSEVELT. 147 

charge on the battlefield, and there was 
nothing else which fitted him for this 
high place, I would not put him in nom- 
ination. But Colonel Koosevelt has 
shown conspicuous ability in the public 
service for ten years. He was a soldier 
three months. It is not time which tells 
with an executive mind and restless en- 
ergy like Roosevelt's, but opportunity. 
Give him the chance and he leads to vic- 
tory. He has held two positions which 
generally ruin the holder of them with 
politicians and the unthinking. One was 
Civil Service Commissioner and the other 
Police Commissioner for New York 
City. So long as the public did not 
understand him there was plenty of lurid 
language and gnashing of teeth. The 
people are always just in the end. Let 
them know everything that can be said 
about a man and see all the searchlight 
of publicity will reveal and their verdict 
is the truth. When the smoke had 
cleared away from the batteries of abuse 
they saw the untouched and unharmed 



148 ROOSEVELT. 

figure of a public-spirited, broad-minded, 
and courageous officer, wlio understood 
official responsibility to mean the per- 
formance without fear or favor of the 
work he had promised to do and obed- 
ience to the laws he had sworn to sup- 
port. The missiles from those batteries 
flew by him as innocuously as did the 
bullets from the Spanish Mausers on the 
hill of San Juan. 

'^¥/hen he became Assistant Secretary 
of the Navy he was in a sphere more 
congenial to his genius and abilities. He 
is a better soldier than he is a policeman. 
Life on the plains had broadened his 
vision and invigorated his youth. Suc- 
cessful excursions into the literature of 
the ranch, and the hunting for big game 
had opened up for him the present re- 
sources and boundless possibilities of 
the United States. He was fortunately 
under the most accomplished, able, gen- 
erous, and indulgent chief in Secretary 
Long. A small man would have been 
jealous of this dynamitic bundle of 



ROOSEVELT. 149 

brains, nerves, energy and initiative, but 
our distinguislied Seeretar3' gave full 
scope to his brilliant assistant. The 
country owes much to him for the effi- 
ciency and splendid condition of our 
navy. 

"The wife of a cabinet officer told me 
that when Assistant Secretary Roose- 
velt announced that he had determined 
to resign and raise a regiment for the 
war, some of the ladies in the administra- 
tion circle thought it their duty to 
remonstrate with him. They said: *Mr. 
Koosevelt, you have six children, the 
youngest a few months old, and the eld- 
est not yet in the teens. While the coun- 
try is full of young men who have no 
such responsibilities and are eager to 
enlist, you have no right to leave the 
burden upon your wife of the care, sup- 
port and bringing up of that family.' 
Roosevelt's answer was a Roosevelt an- 
swer: 'I have done as much as any one 
to bring on this war, because I believed 
it must come, and the sooner the better, 



150 EOOSEVELT. 

and now that war is declared I have no 
right to ask others to do the fighting and 
stay at home myself.' 

"The regiment of Kough Riders was an 
original American suggestion, to demon- 
strate that patriotism and indomitable 
courage are common to all conditions of 
American life. The same great qualities 
are found under the slouch hat of the 
cowboy, and the elegant imported tile 
of New York's gilded youth. Their 
mannerisms are the veneers of the West 
and the East; their manhood is the same. 

"In that hot, and pest-cursed climate 
of Cuba officers had opportunities for 
protection from miasma and fever which 
were not possible for the men. But the 
Eough Riders endured no hardships nor 
dangers which were not shared by their 
Colonel. He helped them dig the ditches ; 
he stood beside them in the deadly damp- 
ness of the trenches. No floored tent for 
him if his comrades must sleep on the 
ground and under the sky. In that 
world-famed charge of the Rough Riders 



EOOSEVELT. 151 

through the hail of shot and up the hill 
of San Juan, their Colonel was a hundred 
feet in advance. The bullets whistling- 
by him are rapidly thinning the ranks 
of these desperate fighters. The Colonel 
trips and falls and the line wavere, but 
in a moment he is up again, waving his 
sword, climbing and shouting. He bears 
a charmed life. He clips the barbed wire 
fence and plunges through, yelling 'Come 
on, boys; come on, and w^e will lick hell 
out of them.' The moral force of that 
daring cowed and awed the Spaniards, 
and they fled from their fortified heights 
and Santiago was ours. 

"Colonel Roosevelt is the typical citi- 
zen-soldier. The sanitary condition of 
our army in Cuba might not have been 
known for weeks through the regular 
channels of inspection and report to the 
various departments. Here the citizen in 
the Colonel overcame the official routine 
and reticence of the soldier. His graphic 
letter to the government and the round 
robin he initiated brought suddenly and 



152 ROOSEVELT. 

sharply to our attention the frightful 
dangers of disease and death, and re- 
sulted in our boys being brougnt im- 
mediately home. He may have been sub- 
ject to court-martial for violating the 
articles of war, but the humane im- 
pulses of the people gave him gratitude 
and applause. 

"It is seldom in political conflicts, 
when new and unexpected issues have 
to be met and decided, that a candidate 
can be found who personifies the pop- 
ular and progressive side of those issues. 
Representative men move the masses to 
enthusiasm and are more easily under- 
stood than measures. Lincoln, with his 
immortal declaration, made at a time 
when to make it insured his defeat by 
Douglas for the United States Senate, 
that *a house divided against itself can- 
not stand. I believe this government 
cannot endure permanently half-slave 
and half-free', embodied the anti-slavery 
doctrine. Grant, with Appomattox and 
the parole of honor to the Confederate 



ROOSEVELT. 153 

Army behind him, stood for the per- 
petuity of union and liberty. McKin- 
ley, by his long and able advocacy of its 
principles, is the leading spirit for the 
protection of American industries. For 
this year, for this crisis, for the voters 
of the Empire State, for the young men 
of the country and the upward, onward 
and outward trend of the United States, 
the candidate of candidates is the hero 
of Santiago, the idol of the Rough Riders 
— Colonel Theodore Roosevelt." 

There were other speeches for Gov- 
ernor Black and for Colonel Roosevelt, 
and when the roll of delegates was called 
the vote was seven hundred and fifty- 
three votes for Roosevelt and two hun- 
dred and eighteen for Black. Judge J. 
R. Cady, of Hudson, who had placed Gov- 
ernor Black in nomination, immediately 
moved to make the nomination of Colonel 
Roosevelt unanimous, and Senator 
Hobart Kruni, of Schoharie, who had 
been one of Governor Black's chief ad- 
visers, assured the convention of entire 



151 EOOSEVELT. 

harmony in the party when he followed 
Judge Cady with this speech: "On be- 
half of Governor Frank S. Black and on 
behalf of every delegate who voted for 
him in this convention, I say they will 
stand by the nomination of Colonel 
Roosevelt, as Colonel Roosevelt stood by 
the country. We will not be in the re- 
serve forces, but we will be at the front 
and we will stand shoulder to shoulder 
with the best of you and push Colonel 
Theodore Roosevelt into the executive 
chair by a tremendous majority. More 
than that we will take the executive 
chair for Colonel Roosevelt as he took as 
a Rough Rider the heights of San Juan. 

On the 8th of October, 1898, the editor 
of the "Criterion" published a most en- 
thusiastic article in advocacy of the 
candidature of Theodore Roosevelt. Two 
paragraphs are well worth quoting: 

"All through the State of New York 
the name of Theodore Roosevelt for Gov- 
ernor has awakened enthusiasm. Noth- 
ing can stand before it. 



KOOSEVELT. 155 

"He comes into the battle a fighting 
man. His foes are the foes of the Union 
and the citizen, and he does not hesitate 
but advances on them from the front. 

"He has the habit of victory and that 
is a badge only worn by the worthy. 

"Happy indeed is the candidate who 
comes forward so manfully to the new 
battle and with such a trail of triumphs 
behind him — and always in the cause of 
good and honest government. It is not 
merely the dauntless Colonel of Rough 
Riders dashing forward to capture 
trenches of the enemy, but the cour- 
ageous legislator, the indefatigable, 
President of the Police Commission, the 
tireless Civil Service Commissioner, the 
argus-eyed and every-eye-wide-open As- 
sistant Secretary of the Navy who pre- 
pared it for the victories that swept the 

flag of Spain from the four seas." 
« * * » » 

"Let it, then, be a joyous, wholesome, 
whole-souled canvass, with the battle- 
cry of 'Roosevelt and Victory' ringing 



15G EOOSEVELT. 

down the lines. It is a canvass to in- 
spire the young who aspire and to stim- 
ulate the old who remember. It is to be 
kept in view that there are other heights 
to storm beside those of San Juan and 
El Caney, many battles to be fought for 
the people's weal w^ith those magical 
bullets made of paper which can kill at 
a thousand miles — the ballots. Many a 
weary day is to pass in the trenches be- 
fore all the evil powers in politics sur- 
render. For the hour of waiting, of 
preparation, where will be found a bet- 
ter, more thoughtful, more watchful, 
more considerate commander than Theo- 
dore Roosevelt? When the hour comes 
to charge who will be the leader with 
more courage more coolness, more mag- 
netism than the gallant man chosen by 
the people's voice to lead the people?'^ 



CHAPTER XII. 

ELECTED GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK. 

The nomination of Theodore Roosevelt 
for the high position of Governor of the 
great State of New York, met with 
hearty and almost universal approval. It 
seemed as if every "boy" you met on 
Broadway and in Printing House Square 
had a Roosevelt button in his coat. The 
press at large seemed most sincere and 
hearty in its indorsement. The New 
York "Sun" spoke these generous words 
concerning Colonel Roosevelt: 

"A united party never had a worthier 
representative than this Republican and 
American. Honest, intelligent, capable, 
patriotic and fearless he is, and all men 
know it. His character and his record 
command that sort of enthusiastic sup- 
port which comes from the heart and not 

157 



158 ROOSEVELT. 

merely, from the sense of partisan obliga- 
tion. There is neither humbug nor vain- 
glory, nor again the guile of self-seeking 
in his composition. The people know that 
he is genuine, that he goes himself 
wherever he is willing to send others, and 
that he gets there; and to that quality of 
man they will be true, whether he is 
Colonel or candidate." 

It was admitted on every hand that 
the election of Theodore Roosevelt was 
"a foregone conclusion;" but those who 
know most of political warfare, know 
that these "foregone conclusions" need 
a great deal of watching, and often a 
great deal of encouragement The al- 
ready popular candidate became daily 
more popular, he met the people face 
to face, and the trinity of old Caesarian 
verbs were true for him. He met the 
people, he spoke a few earnest words, 
and they were won to his banner. In the 
brief period between September 27th and 
election day, November the 8th, he de- 
livered nearly three hundred speeches. 




GOVERNOR ROOSEVELT DELIVERING HIS INAUGURAL, 



IGO EOOSEVELT. 

Most of them were brief — from the plat- 
form of a railway car. He was a genius 
at the making of short, impressive 
speeches; courage, faith in his party 
and its principles, the utmost frankness 
and a deathless determination, char- 
acterized them all. He impressed upon 
his hearers the broad wide issue of their 
action. "You are not only New Yorkers, 
but Americans," was a favorite battle- 
cry. The following is a sample of one 
of his telling addresses: 

"My opponents ask you to vote only 
as New Yorkers. I ask you to vote as 
New Yorkers; I ask you to remember 
every State issue; I ask you to keep in 
mind carefully every matter concerning 
the welfare of New York. 

"But I ask you also to remember that 
you are not only New Yorkers, but 
Americans, that you have interests not 
only in the State but in the Union — • 
which is greater than any State — that 
your welfare is bound up with the wel- 
fare of the nation, and that the honor of 



ROOSEVELT. 161 

each man of you is sensitive to the honor 
of the flag. 

"I ask you to remember than you can- 
not, if you would, help letting your bal- 
lots this fall have their effect throughout 
the Union. You cannot vote a half bal- 
lot. You cannot put a caveat on your 
ballot that will only be heard of in the 
State of New York. 

"As New York goes on November 8th, 
so the friends of honest finance, the be- 
lievers in national honor throughout the 
Union will be elated or cast down." 

As election day drew nigh it was mani- 
fest that Colonel Roosevelt counted 
among his friends and followers not only 
the men of the Republican party, but 
men of all ranks and conditions, the ad- 
herents of every form of faith and of 
every political persuasion. 

A very graphic description of that 
memorable election day was given by 
Vance Thompson in the "Criterion," part 
of which we quote: 

"And Tuesday morning came in — like 



162 ROOSEVELT. 

a lamb — and though it went out with a 
lion-like roar of 'Teddy! Teddy,' yet was 
it as mild an election day as one could 
see in the quietest spot of the old world. 
All the disturbance was in those 'scare- 
heads' of the sensational journals. The 
great city of New York cast her vote 
with a dignity that was almost astound- 
ing — to one who had put faith in the 
shrieking prophets of the press. 

"In the gray and early morning the 
voting booths were already crowded. 
Workingmen, city employes, policemen, 
firemen and all those who were held to 
their posts during the day voted early. 
Perhaps this six o'clock voting was 
briskest in the Democratic districts. A 
trifle later, from 8 o'clock to 9 o'clock, the 
business men came. Had you stood at 
the right corner in Sixth avenue, you 
might have seen Chauncey Depew step 
lightly — in spite of his years — in to vote 
and come out cracking jokes and 
prophecies. At no time was there a 
crowd about the uptown polling places — 



ROOSEVELT. 163 

a line of ten or fifteen men at most, a 
couple of policemen and a few scouts. 
Had you not been on the outlook you 
would hardly have fancied anything 
special was going on, even in those cigar 
shops and laundries and iron booths 
where the fate of good government was 
being decided. 

"Not until you came to that strange, 
crowded land below Fourteenth street 
— at which the reformers look askance — 
would 3'ou have known that there was 
something on. The Bowery had an air at 
once saintly and rakish. The saloons 
were closed, apparently, and this gave 
the thoroughfare a sort of Sunday look, 
but the Bowery boys were out in force 
and in a holiday — or perhaps I should 
say alco-holiday — mood. Crowds 
streamed, shouting through the narrow 
streets that run over into the Jewish 
quarter; crowds surged at the comers, 
but it was only what is seen in Martin 
Engelville every idle day in the year. The 
polling places were in queer little shops 



164 EOOSEVELT. 

and stores. One in Essex street: Two 
policemen lolling at the door, bored, in- 
different; through the window you saw a 
little showcase filled with cheap cigars 
and cigarettes and a black-eyed woman 
in a gaudy shawl; beyond was the table 
at which the election-inspector sat, and 
beyond this, hidden by a dingy curtain, 
was the mysterious arcanum, where the 
cross is made in the circle. It is all so 
temporary, so informal, so casual, that 
it seems a reflection on the dignity of 
the ballot. Would it be a bad plan to 
have permanent and uniform polling 
booths? But that is neither here nor 
there. You turn away from the East 
Side, which is no longer the tough East, 
but a decorous, if rather dirty East, and 
you go away sadly, like the rich young 
man in the parable, for you had expected 
bloodshed and cracked and unabashed 
voters. 

"In the region of the great hotels the 
hours went by with a brisker swing and 
livelier air. There you were among the 



ROOSEVELT. 165 

prophets and the men who bet or offer to 
bet, and the men who can tell you that 
*the tenth of the twenty-third is running 
ten behind on the first hour,' and thus 
foretell the ultimate result, as Ouvier 
built up a mastodon from a toe-joint. In 
the Hoffman House and its white neigh- 
bor, the Fifth Avenue Hotel, gather all 
the men who have been some one or 
other. On this one day in the year they 
dust themselves and come down from 
their shelves and live for a little while 
in the hubbub that was once their lives. 
Pathetic? If you think so. 

"A quiet day. It was like an election 
in Auburn, loveliest village of the plain; 
anything but pulsific. 

"But when the news came in 

"It was known by 8 o'clock that the 
Tammany ticket was running hopelessly 
behind. Evening newspapers jumped 
blithely at conclusions and announced 
in big type 'Roosevelt wins,' and then 
from end to end Broadway was split with 
tin horns and megaphones and the yells 



166 ROOSEVELT. 

of enthusiasts. For a little while longer 
the lights shone in the magic lanterns; a 
little while longer stout, bediamonded 
Tammany men wandered from the Hoff- 
man House to Delmonieo's offering to bet 
anything from shirts to houses; and then 
the crowds melted away, hardly waiting 
for the end, but satisfied that all had 
ended well. 

"Ever since dark the bonfires had 
blazed round the island — 'Eastside, 
Westside, all around the town' — and the 
small boys and girls had danced impish- 
ly. And at midnight almost every street 
running toward the rivers flickered with 
the dying fires." 

The election of the 8th of November, 
1898, resulted in the triumph of Colonel 
Roosevelt, whose plurality was eighteen 
thousand and seventy-nine. But even 
better than this triumph of personal 
character and worth, if anything can be 
better, it was felt profoundl}' and grate- 
fully by all thoughtful patriotic men, 
that tliis election meant not only the 



KOOSEVELT. 167 

triumph of their candidate, but through 
him the triumph of pure, honest govern- 
ment. 

Colonel Koosevelt took the oath of of- 
fice at noon December 31, 1898, at the 
office of the Secretaryi of State in Albany. 
Monday, January 2, 1899, was Inaugura- 
tion Day and Albany was in all her glory. 
Thousands of people gathered from all 
parts of the great Empire State, Albany 
had never seen such an inauguration 
crowd before. The ceremony began at 
11 o'clock in the Assembly Chamber. Mr. 
Roosevelt was duly installed as the thir- 
ty-sixth Governor, under the constitu- 
tion of New York State, which went into 
effect in the year 1777. Governor Black 
welcomed the new incumbent of the high 
office. Governor Roosevelt responded : 

"I appreciate very deeply all you say, 
and the spirit that prompts you to say it. 
We have the same ends in view; we are 
striving to accomplish the same results; 
each of us, according to the light that is 



168 ROOSEVELT. 

in him, is seeking to advance the welfare 
of the people. 

"A very heavy responsibility rests 
upon the Governor of New York State, a 
State of seven million inhabitants, of 
great wealth, of widely varied industries, 
and with a population singularly diversi- 
fied, not merely in occupation, but in 
race, origin, in habits of life, and in ways 
of thought It is not an easy task so to 
frame our lav/ s that Justice may be done 
to all alike in such a population, so many 
of whom have interests that seem entire- 
ly antagonistic. But upon the great and 
fundamental issues of good government 
there must always be a unity of interest 
among all persons who v, ish well to the 
commonwealth. There is much less need 
of genius or of any special brilliancy in 
the administration of our government 
than there is need of such homely virtues 
and qualities as common sense, honesty, 
and courage. There are very many diffi- 
cult problems to face, some of w^hich are 
as old as government itself, while others 



ROOSEVELT. 169 

have sprung into being in consequence of 
the growing complexity and steadily in- 
creasing tension of our social life for the 
last two generations. It is not given to 
any man, nor to any set of men, to see 
with absolutely clear vision into the 
future. All that can be done is to face 
the facts as we find them, to meet each 
difficulty in practical fashion, and to 
strive steadily for the betterment both of 
our civic and our social conditions. 

"We must realize, on the one hand, 
that we can do little if we do not set our- 
selves a high ideal, and, on the other, 
that we will fail in accomplishing even 
this little if we do not work through 
practical methods and with a readiness 
to face life as it is, and not as we think 
it ought to be. Under no form of gov- 
ernment is it so necessary thus to com- 
bine efficiency and morality, high prin- 
ciple and rough common sense, justice, 
and the sturdiest physical and moral 
courage, as in a republic. It is absolutely 
impossible for a republic long to endure 



170 KOOSEVELT. 

if it becomes either corrupt or cowardly, 
if its public men, no less than its private 
men, lose the indispensable virtue of hon- 
esty, if its leaders of thought become 
visionary doctrinaires, or if it shows a 
lack of courage in dealing with the many 
grave problems which it must surely 
face, both at home and abroad, as it 
strives to work out the destiny meet for 
a mighty nation. 

"It is only through the party system 
that free governments are now success- 
fully carried out, and yet we must keep 
very vividly before us that the usefulness 
of a party is strictly limited by its useful- 
ness to the State, and that in the long 
run he serves his party best who most 
helps to make it instantly responsive to 
every need of the people and to tho high- 
est demands of that spirit which tends to 
drive us onward and upward. It shall be 
my purpose, so far as I am given strength, 
to administer my office with an eye sin- 
gle to the welfare of all the people of this 
great commonwealth." 



ROOSEVELT. 171 

Then came the usual public reception 
of the new Governor, at which at least 
five thousand people shook hands with 
him, and every guest of the occasion 
seemed to vie with every other guest in 
hearty and enthusiastic congratulation. 

On January 4, Governor Roosevelt 
transmitted to the State Legislature his 
first message as Governor. It was a 
scholarly document of considerable 
length. Here follows a few important 
quotations: 

"We are not merely New' Yorkers. We 
are Americans; and the interests of all 
Americans, whether from the North, the 
South, the East or the great West, are 
equally dear to the men of the Empire 
State. As w^e grow into a mighty nation, 
which, whether it will or not, must in- 
evitably play a great part for good or for 
evil in the affairs of the world at large, 
the people of New York wish it under- 
stood that they look at all questions of 
American foreign policy from the most 
thoroughly national standpoint 



172 KOOSEVELT. 

"The development in extent and 
variety of industries has necessitated 
legislation in the interest of labor. This 
legislation is not necessarily against the 
interests of capital; on the contrary, if 
wisely devised it is for the benefit of both 
laborers and employers. We have very 
wisely passed many laws for the benefit 
of labor, in themselves good, and for the 
time being, sufficient; but experience has 
shown that the full benefit of these laws 
is not obtained through the lack of proper 
means of enforcing them and the failure 
to make any one department responsible 
for their enforcement." 

"The methods of appointment to the 
civil service of the State are now in utter 
confusion, no less than three great sys- 
tems being in effect — one in the city of 
New York, one in other cities, and one in 
the State at large. I recommend that a 
law be passed introducing one uniform 
practice for the entire State, and provid- 
ing, as required by the constitution, for 
the enforcement of proper civil service 



W^r=^ 




ROOSEVELT. 173 

regulations in the State and its sub- 
divisions." 

Tlien followed a brief but vigorous 
reference to half a dozen more or less 
important questions. 

"I call the attention of the Legislature 
to the desirability of gradually extend- 
ing the sphere in which the suffrage can 
be exercised by women. 

"Inasmuch as many of the statutes re- 
lating to public schools are conflicting 
and confusing, the school law should be 
revised and simplified. 

"In New York City, even more than in 
the State, there is need of cutting down 
the salaries of certain officials, of forc- 
ing others to do more work, and of alto- 
gether getting rid of yet others. 

"I invite the attention of the Legisla- 
ture particularly to the evils of over- 
legislation. The tendency to pass laws 
which are utterly unnecessary, even 
when not pernicious, or which are en- 
acted purely to favor certain special 



174 ROOSEVELT. 

private interests, seems to grow instead 
of diminish. 

"I direct your attention to the custom 
of the British Parliament, which puts 
upon the would-be beneficiary the cost of 
all private and special legislation, and 
wisely makes it dilficult to obtain at all, 
and impossible to obtain without full ad- 
vertisement and discussion. No special 
law should be passed where passing a 
general law will serve the purpose." 

Never was a Governor welcomed with 
more sincere and ungrudging confidence 
to the duties of his high office. In an 
article on "Our New Governor," the 
editor of the "Criterion" says: 

"Theodore Roosevelt's candidacy was 
not a thing of 'machine' selection. It 
was forced by the popular desire upon 
the 'machine.' His achievements in half 
a dozen trying posts had pointed him out 
as a brilliant citizen of high ideals, and 
no one else would suit. To-morrow he 
will be inaugurated as Governor. How 
can this brilliant, capable, vigorous man 



ROOSEVELT. 175 

—who studied law, was an Assembly- 
man, a Police Commissioner, a Civil 
Service Commissioner, an Assistant Sec- 
retary of the Navy, a Colonel of Rough 
Riders — how can this man make his 
Governorship memorable for its results, 
direct as well as formative ? We will say 
at the start that it can only be done by 
every good citizen in the Legislature, in 
the pulpit, in the lecture hall, in business 
or at his trade sustaining him. He starts 
with the advantage of his experience, his 
acumen, his determination; but with the 
disadvantage that he will be expected to 
be brilliant and successful in everything. 
To a weak man the position of having 
perpetual brilliance expected of him 
would continually incite to fireworks in 
word and deed, only to find that criticism 
would at once assume an undeceiving 
tone and wholesale condemnation follow 
the slightest slip in the pyrotechnic out- 
fit. Governor Roosevelt will not sin on 
that side. Startling things may well be 
expected of him, but he will act from 



176 ROOSEVELT. 

maturity of consideration, and with tliat 
confidence in the popular understanding 
which marks off the true man of affairs 
from the mystery-monger." 

"Self Culture," in discussing the 
"Koosevelt regime," says: 

"Governor Roosevelt has assumed the 
duties of his office at a time which affords 
him an excellent opportunity to put into 
operation the principles which he has 
hitherto consistently preached, and, in 
more limited fields than that he now oc- 
cupies, as consistently practiced. He 
knows politics and politicians from the 
A B C of the primary to the legislative 
chambers; his work on the Civil Service 
Commission has given him a familiarity 
with this important branch of govern- 
ment; and in his present office his former 
experience in the presidency of the New 
York Police Commission will be of the 
greatest value from its revelations of the 
foul side of popular government when 
permitted to fall into the hands of the 
unscrupulous and self-seeking. The 



KOOSEVELT. 177 

vigor with which he has heretofore at- 
tacked every task before him, whether in 
the Legislature or in the bureaus of 
municipal and federal government, on 
the battlefield, or in the arduous labors 
of an exciting political campaign, can 
be brought into full play in dealing with 
the problems of State legislation that 
now confront him." 



178 ROOSEVELT. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

ELECTED VICE-PRESIDENT OF 
THE UNITED STATES. 

While President McKinley's renomination 
was a foregone conclusion, there was a lively- 
fight in progress over the nommation of 
Vice-President. The death of Garret A, 
Hobart, Vice-President, had brought forward 
a host of aspirants for that position. Fav- 
orite sons from various states were brought 
out, and the contest was keen. Lieutenant- 
Governor Timothy Woodruff of New York was 
one of the persistent seekers after the honor, 
and he had a considerable following. Cor- 
nelius N. Bliss of the same state was also put 
forward, and the name of Governor Roosevelt 
was often mentioned. Illinois had in the 
forefront Private Joe Fifer, and Congressman 
Hitt; Iowa presented Congressman Dolliver; 
Senator C. K. Davis of Minnesota was also 
mentioned, and Secretary Long of the Navy 
was considered a possibility. 

Senator Piatt of New York was credited 



ROOSEVELT. 179 

with a desire to force the nomination of Gov- 
ernor Roosevelt, for the purpose of taking 
that energetic young man out of New York 
state pontics, and the administration was 
said to be opposed to such a proceeding. 
There was no doubt concernmg the attitude 
of the Governor. He declared openly and 
frequently that he did not want the nomina- 
tion, and finally went so far as to assert he 
would not accept the place if tendered him. 

To the end he remained sincere in his belief 
that somebody else ought to be nommated, 
and he carried home with him the satisfying 
knowledge that he was the only anti-Roose- 
velt delegate in the Convention. 

William McKinley had reason to be proud 
that on the Republican ticket for his re- 
election he had associated with him, as the 
candidate for the Vice-Presidency, Theodore 
Roosevelt. Like McKinley, President Roose- 
velt has been tried and proved true, weighed 
and not found wanting. 

In time of war both were at the front and 
both in places where there was the thunder 
with the deadly hail of battle about them. 



ISO RO S E VELT 

It may not be so well remembered by the 
brave boj^s of to-day, who in, the enthusiasm 
of their victory over the Spaniards, may for- 
get the equally daring deeds of their fathers 
during the dark days of '61 to '65, or those 
of their grandsires who fought with Wash- 
ington, but it remains true that just as 
Roosevelt urged on and was in front of iiis 
enough Riders, the First United States Vol- 
unteer Cavalry J so it was with Major McKin- 
ley, of whom General Sheridan said, in an 
official report of his ride to Winchester, that 
he foimd McKinley far in front, urging his 
men to rally; one of the officers who were 
"doing their duty." 

Another point of interest in the military 
careers of the two men was their devotion, 
as officers, to the care of their men. McKin- 
ley, then a mere lad in the commissary de- 
partment, saw during a severe engagement 
that though it was seemingly his duty to 
stay in the rear and watch after the stores 
in his charge, yet the men in front were hard- 
pressed and without food, and this made the 
seeming duty a certain mistake. The boy's 



ROOSEVELT. 181 

part was to get to the fellow-soldiers and give 
to them sustenance to support them in their 
trying position, and so the commissary ser- 
geant, with shell and shrapnell bursting on 
every side, went ahead with his provisions 
and personally risked more danger than the 
men at the front as he moved among them 
and handed down to them in the trenches 
coffee and hardtack. 

Theodore Roosevelt, when Spain was 
whipped and the horrid hand of the tropics 
was snatching away his brave boys, dared 
to be sponsor for a message to the home 
government, in which he called attention 
to their condition and the very real necessity 
of bringing them home — away from the pesti- 
lence and the miserable death in camp, at 
which the soldier shudders who can laughingly 
face death in the battlefield. 

McKinley and Roosevelt were nominated 
at Philadelphia for President and Vice- 
President, respectively, not in a stampede, 
but in a formal manner, showing that each 
was the deliberate choice of the Convention. 

No other candidate than McKinley was 



182 ROOSEVELT. 

considered for President. No other candi- 
date than Roosevelt was seriously considered 
for Vice-President. 

McKinley got all of the 926 votes in the 
Convention. Roosevelt got all but one. His 
was the one vote not cast. 

The concluding session of the Convention 
took on in a supreme measure the character 
of a great Republican jubilee. Every man, 
woman and child stood up when McKinley 
was placed in nomination by the dashing 
Foraker, of Ohio, and the standards of all 
the states traveled to the stage, where they 
were grouped. 

Governor Roosevelt's speech, seconding 
McKinley's nomination, was the signal for 
another demonstration. The Governor made 
the best speech of the day. It was broad, 
thoughtful, patriotic and eloquent. 

He drove his knife deep into the Democracy 
and when he concluded the leaders knew they 
had on the ticket the man to answer Bryan 
should the Democratic champion tour the 
country from a rear platform, as he had 
done four years before. 



ROOSEVELT. 183 

When all the speeches for McKinley had 
been made, Senator Lodge, the Chairman, 
ordered the roll of the states to be called for 
a ballot. There was no other candidate, but 
it had been determined to make the result 
formal and clinching. The chairman of each 
state delegation arose and cast the solid vote 
of the state for McKinley, and he was declared 
nominated. 

The nomination of Governor Roosevelt for 
Vice-President was made amid scenes of great 
enthusiasm. The Governor was the one popu- 
lar idol in the Convention. He was placed 
in nomination by Iowa. 

Colonel "Lafe" Young, an Iowa editor, 
who was in Cuba as a war correspondent, 
made the speech. The nomination was sec- 
onded by Murray, of Massachusetts. 

The selection of McKinley and Roosevelt 
by the Republican party at Philadelphia was 
singularly apjDropriate and fitting, for both 
were men of the Nation; one born of humble, 
honorable parentage, who has wisely served 
his Government as soldier and statesman, 
and the other born to the lie-rit-age of the old 



184 ROOSEVELT. 

aristocracy of New York, who was equally 
anxious to do and is successfully doing a 
citizen's part in peace and war. 

Theodore Roosevelt, then Governor of the 
great State of New York did not want to be 
the Vice-Presidential nominee, not that he 
failed to appreciate the glory and honor, but 
because he is a man of purpose, and it takes 
more than a single term for such a man to 
accomplish all that should be done in the 
way of bettering the state over which the 
shadow of the Tammany tiger falls, as the 
great beast shelters the brothels and saloons, 
and rejoices when the poor cry for ice, be- 
cause [that increases the price and the profits 
of the Mayor and the Tammany associates 
of the Ice Trust. There was further work 
for Roosevelt to do, he felt, and as he put it 
at Philadelphia: 

"In view of the revival of the talk of 
myself as a Vice-Presidential candidate, I 
have this to say: It is impossible too deeply 
to express how touched I am by the attitude 
of those delegates who have wished me to 
take the nomination. 



ROOSEVELT. 185 

"Moreover, it is not necessary to say how 
thoroughly I understand the high honor and 
dignity of the offics— an office so high and 
so honorable that it is well worthy the am- 
bition of any man in the United States. 

"But, while I appreciate all this to the 
full, I nevertheless feel most deeply that the 
field of my best usefulness to the public and 
to the party is in New York State, and if 
the party should see fit to renominate me 
for Governor, I can in that position help the 
national ticket as in no other way. 

"I very earnestly ask that every friend of 
mine in the Convention respect my wishes and 
my judgment in this matter." 

Every man is liable to be in the wrong. The 
Governor of the State of New York had but 
one duty, and that was to again "Rally 
Round the Flag," and with his President 
fight the foes of honest money, of national 
honor in dealing with the possessions that 
have come to us with the war with Spain. 
A comment made to a friend not long before 
he went to Philadelphia illustrates the truth 
of this statement. He said in effect: 



186 ROOSEVELT. 

"How will I ever be able to hold myself 
in if I am Vice-President and there occurs 
a debate on the floor of the Senate upon the 
expansion question? If I should hear a 
bitter, irritating, specious and absurd speech 
on the anti-expansion side I should feel just 
like flinging down the gavel, rushing from 
the Vice-President's place to the floor of the 
Senate and plunging into the battle." 

Again "Teddy," as the people love to call 
him, was in error. As Vice-President he 
was tolerant with all opposing views, but 
he was not wishy-washy in properly sup- 
pressing those who were careless of parlia- 
mentary rules, or submitting to any false 
courtesy of tradition among the Senators as 
to their prerogatives when they did not apply 
themselves to business, or where they were 
directly treasonable to the United States. 

The Colonel of the Rough Riders could not 
have been better presented than he was at 
Philadelphia before the National Republican 
Convention, which would and did nominate 
him, whether he would or no. 

It is interesting and proper to state here 



R 8 E V E L T . 187 

that among the many present was a young 
woman, a typical American woman, the 
mother of an American brood of children, 
who did not weep and grow hysterical when 
Teddy went to war, and that as he entered 
the hall he did not fail to stop and greet her, 
the mother of his children. She heard the 
nominating speeches, listened to her big hus- 
band second the nomination of the President 
and a little later witnessed the glory of his 
nomination for the second highest office with- 
in the gift of the American people, when the 
crowds swarmed about him after the splendid 
roll call of the states, the sonorous alphabet, 
beginning with Alabama, having been called, 
and there was only one delegate's vote miss- 
ing, that of the Governor of the State of New 
York, but that missing vote was many times 
repeated in the wife's heart, so that it need 
hot be recorded against him. 

Colonel Lafayette Young, of DesMoines, 
Iowa, in presenting the name of Governor 
Roosevelt to the Convention for the Vice- 
Presidential nomination at Philadelphia, July 
21, 1900, said: 



188 ROOSEVELT. 

" Gentlemen of the Convention : I have lis- 
tened with profound interest to the numerous 
indictments pronounced against the Demo- 
cratic party, and, as an impartial reader of 
history, I am compelled to confess that the 
indictments are all only too true. If I am 
to judge, however, by the enthusiasm of 
this hour, the Republican Relief Committee 
sent out four years ago, to carry supplies and 
succor to the prostrate industries of the 
Republic, has returned to make formal report 
that the duty has been discharged. I could 
add nothing to this indictment, except to 
say that this unfortunate party through 
four years of legislation and administrative 
control had made it, up to 189G, impossible 
for an honest man to get into debt, or to get 
out of it. 

"But, my fellow-citizens, you know my 
purpose, you know the heart of this Con- 
vention. The country never called for patri- 
otic sons from any given family, but more 
were offered than there was room for on the 
enlistment roll. When this Convention and 
this great party called for a candidate for 



ROOSEVELT. 189 

Vice-President two voices responded, one 
from the Mississippi Valley by birth, another 
by loving affection and adoption. 

"It is my mission, representing that part 
of the great Louisiana purchase, to with- 
draw one of these sons and suggest that the 
duty be placed upon the other. I therefore 
withdraw the name of Jonathan P. Dolliver, 
of Iowa, a man born with the thrill of the 
Lincoln and Fremont campaigns in his heart 
and with the power to stir the hearts and 
consciences of men as part of his birthright, 

"We turn to this other adopted son of the 
great middle West, and at this moment I 
recall that two years ago to-day as many 
men as there are men and women in this great 
hall were on board sixty transports lying 
off Santiago harbor, in full view of the bay, 
with Morro castle looming up upon the right 
and another prominence upon the left, with 
the opening of the channel between. 

"On board those transports were twenty 
thousand soldiers that had gone away from 
our shores to liberate another race, to fulfill 
no obligation but that of humanity. 



190 ROOSEVELT. 

"As campaign followers there were those 
who witnessed this great spectacle of that 
fleet, and on the ship Yucatan was that 
famous regiment of Rough Riders of the 
far West and the Mississippi Valley. In 
command of that regiment was that fearless 
young American, student, scholar, plainsman, 
reviewer, historian, statesman, soldier, of the 
middle West by adoption, of New York by 
birth. That fleet, sailing around the point, 
coming to the place of landing, stood off the 
harbor, two years ago to-morrow, and the 
navy bombarded that shore to make a place 
for landing, and no man that lives who was 
in that campaign, as an officer, as a soldier, 
or as a camp follower, can fail to recall the 
spectacle; and, if he closes his eyes he sees 
the awful scenes in that campaign in June 
and July, 1898. Then, the landing being 
completed, there were those who stood upon 
the shore and saw these indomitable men 
land, landing in small boats through the 
waves that dash against the shore, landing 
without harbor, but land they did, with 
their accoutrements on and their weapons 



ROOSEVELT. 191 

by their sides. And those who stood upon 
the shore and saw these men come on thought 
they could see in their faces, ' Stranger, can 
you tell me the nearest road to Santiago?' 

"That is the place they were looking for. 
And the leader of the campaign of one of 
those regiments shall be the name that I 
shall place before this Convention for the 
office of Vice-President of the United States. 
"Gentlemen of the Convention, I know 
you have been here a long time and that 
you have had politics in abundance. I know 
the desire to complete the work of this Con- 
vention, but I cannot forbear to say that 
this occasion has a higher significance than 
one of politics. The campaign this year is 
higher than politics. 

"In fact, if patriotism could have its way 
there would be but one political party and 
but one electoral ticket in any state of the 
Union, because political duty would enforce 
it. In many respects the years 1898 and 1899 
have been the great years of the Republic. 

''There is not under any sun or any clime 
any man or government that cares to insult 



192 ROOSEVELT. 

the flag of the United States. Not one. 
We are a greater and a broader people on 
account of these achievements. Uncle Sam 
has been made a cosmopolitan citizen of the 
world. No one questions his prowess or his 
bravery. As the result of these campaigns 
and as the result of the American spirit, my 
fellow-citizens, the American soldier, ten 
thousand miles away from home, with a 
musket in his hands, says to the aggressor, to 
those who are in favor of tyranny: 'Halt! 
Who comes there?' and the same spirit says 
to the beleagured hosts of liberty: 'Hold the 
fort, for I am coming!' Thus says the spirit 
of Americanism. Now, gentlemen of the 
Convention, I place before you this distin- 
guished leader of Republicanism of the 
United States, this leader of the aspirations 
of the people, whose hearts are right, and 
this leader of the aspirations of the young 
men of this country. Their hearts and con- 
sciences are with this young leader, whom I 
shall name for the Vice-Presidency of the 
United States, Theodore Roosevelt, of New 
York." 



ROOSEVELT. 193 

Roosevelt's nomination was seconded by 
Governor Mount, of Indiana, and Senator 
Chauncey M. Depew, of New York. 

This, briefly is the story of the great Con- 
vention of Repubhcans in Philadelphia, and 
does not tell m detail of the enormous enthu- 
siasm when the Presidential and Vice-Presi- 
dential candidates were unanimously chosen 
by their party, nor of the bands and the 
flags, the fair women and brave men gathered 
together to witness and be parties to an 
event historic; a period followed by new 
sentences, to be written in gold to the honor 
and glory of the United States. 

It was a sight never to be forgotten. The 
great hall was crowded to its full capacity 
and though there was not the uncertainty 
that makes nominations largely like races 
spectacular and exciting, yet there was some- 
thing better than chance— the certainty that 
two great men were to be nominated by their 
party for the two most distinguished oflices 
in the gift of "we, the people of the United 
States." The people were there in great 
numbers, ready to voice their approval of 



194 ROOSEVELT. 

what was certain, and they had not lost their 
enthusiasm because there was to be no fight; 
for they were there to hail the victors of 
fights already won in peace and war. There 
could have been nothing more inspiring 
than these delegates with the names of their 
glorious States above them, stars in the 
firmament of the Federation. 

The campaign that followed the nomination 
was valiantly fought because of the tactics 
employed by the opposition. In spite of 
the heroic efforts of the Democratic party, 
led by Mr. Bryan, McKinley & Roosevelt 
carried nearly every northern and western 
state, receiving a larger popular majority 
than McKinley & Hobart had four years 
before. 



ROOSEVELT. 195 

CHAPTER XIV. 

SUCCEEDS TO THE PRESIDENCY. 

Theodore Roosevelt became President of 
the United States at 3:32 o'clock Saturday 
afternoon, September 14, 1901. The oath of 
office was administered by Judge John R. 
Hazel, of the United States District Court, in 
the library of the residence of Mr. Ansley Wil- 
cox, at Buffalo. Mr. Wilcox was an old 
friend of the Mce-President, and the latter 
made Mr. Wilcox's house his home during his 
stay in Buffalo, after the shooting of Presi- 
dent McKinley. 

The delay in taking the oath after the death 
of the President was the result of the sanguine 
feeling among the people that McKinley would 
recover from his wounds. No one shared this 
feeling in a higher degree than the Vice-Pres- 
ident. When the news that the President 
had been shot became public Mcc-President 
Roosevelt was in the East. He started im- 
mediately for Buffalo, and was at the Presi- 
dent's bedside as soon as possible. He re- 



196 ROOSEVELT. 

mained in Buffalo until the physicians an- 
nounced that there was no fear of the Presi- 
dent's death, and then left for the Adiron- 
dacks. 

When the President began to sink Thurs- 
day night messages were sent to the Vice- 
President and those members of the Cabinet 
who, like himself, had left Buffalo, deluded 
into the belief that the President would soon 
be able to return to the Capital. The Vice- 
President, with his usual promptitude, started 
on the return trip to Buffalo, greatly saddened 
by the news which made such a step neces- 
sary. He made a hard night ride from the 
North Woods to Albany, and by the use of a 
special train reached Buffalo at 1:35 o'clock 
Saturday afternoon. 

To avoid the crowd which had gathered 
at the Union Station to see him the Vice-Pres- 
ident alighted at the Terrace Station of the 
New York Central, where a police and mili- 
tary escort awaited him. He insisted first 
of all on visiting Mrs. McKinley and offering 
condolences to her in her hour of anguish. 
This step he desired to take simply as a pri- 



ROOSEVELT. 197 

vate citizen, and when it was accomplished 
the Vice-President announced himself as ready 
to take the oath as President. A strong es- 
cort of military and police had assembled at 
the Milburn house to escort him to Mr. Wil- 
cox's, but its presence annoyed the Vice- 
President, and he halted the guards with a 
quick, imperative military command, say- 
ing he would have only two policemen to go 
along with him. Later he announced that 
he did not want to establish the precedent of 
going about guarded. 

The place selected for the administration 
house, a rather small room, but picturesque, 
the heavy oak trimmings and the massive 
bookcases giving it somewhat the appearance 
of a legal den. A pretty bay window with 
stained glass and heavy hangings formed a 
background, and against this Colonel Roose- 
velt took his position. 

Judge Hazel stood near him in the bay 
window, and Colonel Roosevelt showed his 
almost extreme nervousness by plucking at 
the- lapel of his long frock coat and nervously 
tapping the hardwood floor with his heel. 



198 ROOSEVELT. 

He stepped over once to Secretary Root 
and for about five minutes they conversed 
earnestly. The question at issue was whether 
the President should first sign an oath of of- 
fice and then swear in or whether he should 
swear in first and sign the document in the 
case after. 

Secretary Root ceased his conversation 
with Colonel Roosevelt, and, stepping back, 
while an absolute hush fell upon every one in 
the room, said, in an almost inaudible voice: 

"Mr Vice-President, I " Then his 

voice faltered, and for fully two minutes the 
tears came down his face and his lips quiv- 
ered so that he could not continue his utter- 
ances. There were sjmipathetic tears from 
those about him, and two great drops ran 
down either cheek of the successor of William 
McKinley. 

Mr Root's chin was on his breast. Sud- 
denly throwing back his head as if with an 
effort, he continued in broken voice: 

"I have been requested, on behalf of the 
Cabinet of the late President, at least those 
who are present in Buffalo, all except two. 



ROOSEVELT. 199 

to request that for reasons of weight affecting 
the affairs of government, you should pro- 
ceed to take the constitutional oath of Pres- 
ident of the United States." 

Colonel Roosevelt stepped farther into the 
bay window, and Judge Hazel, taking up the 
constitutional oath of ofRce, which had been 
prepared on parchment, asked him to raise his 
right hand and repeat it after him. There 
was a hush like death in the room as the Judge 
read a few words at a time, and Colonel Roose- 
velt, in a strong voice and without a tremor, 
and with his raised hand steady, repeated it 
after him. 

"And thus I swear," he ended it. The hand 
dropped by the side, the chin for an in- 
stant rested on the breast, and the silence re- 
mained unbroken for a couple of minutes as 
though the new President of the United States 
were offering silent prayer. Judge Hazel 
broke it, saying : 

"Mr. President, please attach your signa- 
ture," and the President, turning to a small 
table near by, wrote "Theodore Roosevelt" 
at the bottom of the document in a firm hand. 



200 ROOSEVELT. 

The new President was visibly shaken, but 
he controlled himself admirably, and with 
the deep solemnity of the occasion full upon 
him, he announced to those present that his 
aim would be to be William McKinley's suc- 
cessor in deed as well as in name. Deliber- 
ately he proclaimed it in these words: 

"In this hour of deep and terrible bereav- 
ment, I wish to state that it shall be my aim 
to continue absolutely unbroken the policy 
of President McKinley for the peace and 
prosperity and honor of our beloved coun- 
try." 

The great, far-reaching significance of this 
pledge to continue the policy of the dead Pres- 
ident, announced at the very threshold of a 
new governmental regime, profoundly im- 
pressed his hearers, and President Roose- 
velt's first step after taking the oath was in 
line with its redemption. His first act was to 
ask the members of the Cabinet to retain their 
portfolios in order to aid him to conduct the 
government on lines laid down by him whose 
policy he had declared he would uphold. 
Such an appeal was not to be resisted, and 



ROOSEVELT. 201 

every member of the Cabinet, includmg 
Secretary of State Hay and Secretary of 
the Treasury Gage, who were communicated 
with in Washington, agreed for the present, 
at least, to retain their several portfolios. 

President Roosevelt has been a hard stu- 
dent ever since he left college, and numerous 
interesting and valuable volumes have come 
from his pen. Among the number are "The 
Naval War of 1812"; "Hunting Trips of a 
Ranchman"; three volumes of biography, 
having Thomas H. Benton, Oliver Crom- 
well and Gouverneur Morris for their sub- 
jects; "History of the City of New York"; 
two volumes on political topics, "The Stren- 
uous Life" and "American Ideals and Other 
Essays"; a large four- volume history enti- 
tled "The Winning of the AVest," his most im- 
portant literary work, and "The Wilderness 
Hunter" and "Ranch Life and the Hunting 
Trail." His experience in the Santiago cam- 
paign has also been detailed in graphic style 
in "The Rough Riders," and "Hero Tales 
from American History," in conjunction with 
Henry Cabot Lodge. 



202 ROOSEVELT, 

Colonel Roosevelt has been married twice. 
His first wife was Miss Alice Lee, of Boston; 
the second Miss Edith Carow, of New York. 
He is the father of six children, two girls and 
four boys. His domesticlife is ideal. Whether 
ensconced in winter quarters at Washington 
or at the famous Roosevelt summer home at 
Oyster Bay on Long Island, the leader of the 
Rough Riders is an indulgent father and romps 
with his children with as much zest as the 
youngest of them. The youngsters are 
known as the Roosevelt half-dozen, and all re- 
flect in some manner the paternal character- 
istics. The eldest is Alice, tall, dark and 
serious-looking. She is the only child by 
the first Mrs. Roosevelt. She rides her fa- 
ther's Cuban campaign horse with fearless- 
ness and grace. The next olive branch is 
Theodore, Jr., or "Young Teddy," the idoi 
of his father's heart and a genuine chip of 
the old block. "Young Teddy" is the pres- 
ent Mrs. Roosevelt's oldest child. Then 
there are Kermit, Ethel, Archibald and 
Quentin, the baby of the White House. 



ROOSEVELT. 203 

HONORARY DEGREE OF LL.D. IS CONFERRED 

BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 

APRIL 2, 1903. 

The president addressed his remarks espe- 
cially to the students, and spoke as follows: 

"Mr. President, Men and Women of the 
University, and You, My Fellow-Citizens, 
People of the Great City of the West: I am 
glad indeed to have the chance of being with 
you this afternoon to receive this degree. I 
speak to you of this university, to you, who 
belong to the institution, the creation of 
which has so nobly rounded out the great 
career of mercantile enterprise and prosperity 
which Chicago not merely embodies, but of 
which in a peculiar sense the city stands as 
symbolical. 

"It is of vast importance to our well be- 
ing as a nation that there should be a foun- 
dation deep and broad of material well being. 
No nation can amount to anything great un- 
less the individuals composmg it have so 
worked with the head or with the hand for 
their own benefit as well as for the benefit 



204 ROOSEVELT. 

of their fellows in material ways, that the 
sum of the national prosperity is great. But 
that alone does not make true greatness or 
anything approaching true greatness. It is 
only the foundation for it, and it is the ex- 
istence of institutions such as this, above all 
the existence of institutions turning out 
citizens of the type which I know you turn 
out, that stands as one of the really great 
assets of which a nation can speak when it 
claims true greatness. 

''From this institution you will send out 
scholars, and it is a great and a fine thing to 
send out scholars to add to the sum of pro- 
ductive scholarship. To do that is to take 
your part in doing one of the great duties of 
civilization, but you will do more than that, 
for greater than the school is the man, and 
you will send forth men; men who will scorn 
what is base and ignoble; men of high ideals 
who yet have the robust, glad sense necessary 
to allow for the achievement of the high ideal 
by practical methods. 

"It was one of our American humorists, 
who, like all true humorists, was also a sage. 



ROOSEVELT. 205 

who said that it was easier to be a harmless 
dove than a wise serpent. Now, the aim in 
production of citizenship must not be merely 
the production of harmless citizenship. Of 
course it is essential that you should not 
harm your fellows, but if, after you are 
through with life, all that can be truthfully 
said of you is that you did not do any harm, it 
must also truthfully be added that you did 
no particular good. 

"Remember that the commandment had 
the two sides, to be harmless as doves and 
wise as serpents; to be moral in the highest 
and broadest sense of the word; to have the 
morality that abstains and endures, and also 
the morality that does and fears, the moral- 
ity that can suffer and the morality that can 
achieve results — to have that and, coupled 
with it, to have the energy, the power to ac- 
complish things, which every good citizen 
must have if his citizenship is to be of real 
value to the community. 

"Mr. Judson said in his address today that 
the things we need are elemental. We need 
to produce not genius, not brilliancy, but the 



206 ROOSEVELT, 

homely, commonplace, elemental virtues. 
The reason we won in 1776, the reason that 
in the great trial from 1861 to 1865 this nation 
rang true metal was because the average 
citizen had in him the stuff out of which good 
citizenship has been made from time im- 
memorial, because he had in him courage, 
honesty, common sense. 

"Brilliancy and genius? Yes, if we can 
have them in addition to the other virtues. 
If not, if brilliant genius comes without the 
accompaniment of the substantial qualities 
of character and soul, then it is a menace to 
the nation. If it comes in addition to those 
qualities, then of course we get the great 
general, leader, we get the Lincoln, we get the 
man who can do more than any common 
man can do. But without it much can be 
done. 

" The men who carried musket and saber in 
the armies of the east and the west through 
the four grim years which at last saw the 
sun of peace arise at Appomattox had only the 
ordinary cjualities, but they were pretty good 
ordinary qualities. They were the qualities 



ROOSEVELT. 207 

which, when possessed as those men pos- 
sessed them, made in their snm what we 
call heroism; and what those men had need 
to have in time of war, we must have in time 
of peace, if we are to make this nation what 
she shall ultimately become, if we are to 
make this nation in fact the great republic, 
the greatest power upon which the sun has 
ever shown. 

"And no one quality is enough. First of 
all, honesty — and again remember I am using 
the word in its broadest signification— hon- 
esty, decency, clean living at home, clean 
living abroad, fair dealing in one's own fam- 
ily, fair dealing by the public. 

"And honesty is not enough. If a man is 
ever so honest, but is timid, there is noth- 
ing to be done with him. In the Civil War 
you needed patriotism in the soldier, but if 
the soldier had patriotism, yet felt com- 
pelled to run away, you could not win the 
fight with him. Together with honesty you 
must have the second of the virile virtues, 
courage; courage to dare, courage to stand 



208 ROOSEVELT. 

the wrong and to fight aggressively and vig- 
orously for the right. 

"And if you have only honesty and cour- 
age, you may yet be an entirely worthless 
citizen. An honest and valiant fool has but 
a small place of usefulness in the body politic. 
With honesty, with courage, must go com- 
mon sense; ability to work with your fel- 
lows, ability when you go out of the aca- 
demic halls to work with the men of this 
nation, the men of millions who have not 
an academic training, who will accept your 
leadership on just one consideration, and 
that is if you show yourself in the rough 
work of actual life fit and able to lead, and 
only so. 

"You need honesty, you need courage, and 
you need common sense. Above all you need 
it in the work to be done in the building, 
the corner stone of which we lay today, — the 
law school out of which are to come the 
men who at the bar and on the bench make 
and construe, and in construing make the 
laws of this country; the men who must 
teach by their actions to all our people that 



HON. LAFAYETTE YOUNG, 

Editor Des Moines Capital; Delegate at Large to the Repnblican 

National Conventiou, 1900; presented Mr. Eoosevelt for 

Vico-President ; was with the army in 

Cuba as Correspondent. 



ROOSEVELT. 209 

this is in fact essentially a government of 
orderly liberty under the law. 

"Men and women, you— the graduates of 
this university, you— the undergraduates, 
upon you rests a heavy burden of responsi- 
bility; much has been given to you; much 
will be expected from you. A great work 
lies before you. If you fail in it you dis- 
credit yourselves, you discredit the whole 
cause of education. And you can succeed 
and will succeed if you work in the spirit of 
the words and the deeds of President Harper 
and of those men whom I have known so 
well who are in your faculty today. I 
thank you for having given me the chance 
to speak to you." 

The same evening the President addressed 
the citizens of Chicago, taking for his subject: 

"the MONROE DOCTRINE." 

"Today I wish to speak to you not merely 
about the Monroe Doctrine but about our 
entire position in the western hemisphere 
—a position so peculiar and predominant 
that out of it has grown the acceptance of 



210 ROOSEVELT. 

the Monroe Doctrine as a cardinal feature 
of our foreign policy, and in particular I 
wish to point out what has been done dur- 
ing the lifetime of the last congress to make 
good our position in accordance with this 
historic policy. 

"Ever since the time when we definitely 
extended our boundaries westward to the 
Pacific and southward to the Gulf, since the 
time when the old Spanish and Portuguese 
colonies to the south of us asserted their 
independence, our nation has insisted that 
because of its primacy in strength among 
the nations of the western hemisphere it 
has certain duties and responsibilities which 
oblige it to take a leading part thereon. 

"We hold that our interests in this hemi- 
sphere are greater than those of any Euro- 
pean power possibly can be, and that our 
duty to ourselves and to the weaker repub- 
lics, who are our neighbors, requires us to 
see that none of the great military powers 
from across the seas shall encroach upon 
the territory of the American republics or 
acquire control thereover. 



ROOSEVELT. 211 

"This policy, therefore, not only forbids 
us to acquiesce in such territorial acquisi- 
tion, but also causes us to object to the 
acquirement of a control which would in 
its effect be equal to territorial aggrandize- 
ment. This is why the United States has 
steadily believed that the construction of 
the great isthmian canal, the building of 
which is to stand as the greatest material 
feat of the twentieth century — greater than 
any similar feat in any preceding century — 
should be done by no foreign nation, but by 
ourselves. 

"The canal must of necessity go through 
the territory of one of our smaller sister 
republics. We have been scrupulously care- 
ful to abstain from perpetrating any wrong 
upon any of these republics in this matter. 
We do not wish to interfere with their rights 
in the least, but, while carefully safeguarding 
them, to build the canal ourselves under 
provisions which will enable us, if necessary, 
to police and protect it, and to guarantee 
its neutrality, we being the sole guarantor. 
"Our intention was steadfast; we desired 



212 ROOSEVELT. 

action taken so that the canal could always 
be used by us in time of peace and war 
alike, and in time of war could never be 
used to our detriment by any nation which 
was hostile to us. Such action, by the 
circumstances surrounding it, was neces- 
sarily for the benefit and not the detriment 
of the adjacent American republics. 

"After considerably more than half a 
century these objects have been exactly 
fulfilled by the legislation and treaties of 
the last two years. Two years ago we were 
no further advanced toward the construc- 
tion of the isthmian canal on our terms 
than we had been during the preceding 
eighty years. 

"By the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, ratified 
in December, 1901, an old treaty with Great 
Britain, which had been held to stand in 
the way, was abrogated, and it was agreed 
that the canal should be constructed under 
the auspices of the government of the United 
States, and that this government should have 
the exclusive right to regulate and manage 



ROOSEVELT. 213 

it, becoming the sole guarantor of its neu- 
trality. 

" It was expressly stipulated, furthermore, 
that this guaranty of neutrality should not 
prevent the United States from taking any 
measures which it found necessary in order 
to secure by its own forces the defense of 
the United States and the maintenance of 
public order. 

''Immediately following this treaty con- 
gress passed a law under which the Presi- 
dent was authorized to endeavor to secure 
a treaty for acquiring the right to finish 
the construction of and to operate the Panama 
canal, which had already been begun in the 
territory of Colombia by a French company. 
The rights of this company were accordingly 
obtained and a treaty negotiated with the 
republic of Colombia. 

"This treaty has just been ratified by the 
senate. It reserves all of Colombia's rights, 
while guaranteeing all of our own and those 
of neutral nations, and specifically permits us 
to take any and all measures for the defense 
of the canal and for the preservation of our 



214 ROOSEVELT. 

interests, whenever in our judgment an exi- 
gency may arise which calls for action on our 
part. 

"In other words, these two treaties and 
the legislation to carry them out have re- 
sulted in our obtainmg on exactly the terms 
we desired the rights and privileges which we 
had so long sought in vain. These treaties 
are among the most important that we have 
ever negotiated in their effects upon the fu- 
ture welfare of this country, and mark a 
memorable triumph of American diplomacy — 
one of the fortunate triumphs, moreover, 
which redound to the benefit of the entire 
world. 

"About the same time trouble arose in 
connection with the republic of Venezuela, 
because of certain wrongs alleged to have 
been committed, and debts overdue, by this 
republic to citizens of various foreign powers, 
notably England, Germany, and Italy. After 
failure to reach an agreement these powers 
began a blockade of the Venezuelan coast, 
and a condition of quasi -war ensued. 

"The concern of our government was, of 



ROOSEVELT. 215 

course, not to interfere needlessly in any 
quarrel so far as it did not touch our inter- 
ests or our honor, and not to take the atti- 
tude of protecting from coercion any power 
unless we were willing to espouse the quar- 
rel of that power, but to keep an attitude of 
watchful vigilance and see there was no 
infringement of the Monroe Doctrine— no 
acquirement of territorial rights by a Euro- 
pean power at the expense of a weak sister 
republic— whether this acquisition might 
take the shape of an outright and avowed 
seizure of territory or of the exercise of 
control which would in effect be equivalent 
to such seizure. 

"This attitude was expressed in the two 
following published memoranda— the first 
being the letter addressed by the secretary 
of state to the German ambassador, the 
second the conversation with the secretary 
of state reported by the British ambassador: 

Department of State, Washington, D. C, 
Dec. 16, 1901.— His Excellency, Dr. von 
Holleben, etc. — Dear Excellency: I inclose 
a memorandum by way of reply to that 



216 ROOSEVELT. 

which you did me the honor to leave with 
me on Saturday, and am, as ever, faithfully 
yours. JOHN HAY. 

Memorandum — The president in his mes- 
sage of the 3d day of December, 1901, used 
the following language: 

' ' The Monroe doctrine is a declaration that 
there must be no territorial aggrandizement 
by any non-American power at the expense 
of any American power on American soil. 
It is in no wise intended as hostile to any 
nation in the old world." 

The president further said: 

''This doctrine has nothing to do with 
the commercial relations of any American 
power, save that it in truth allows each of 
them to form such as it desires. * * * Wg 
do not guarantee any state against punish- 
ment if it misconducts itself, provided that 
punishment does not take the form of the 
acquisition of territory by any non-American 
power." 

His excellency, the German ambassador, 
on his recent return from Berlin, conveyed 
personally to the president the assurance of 
the German emperor that his majesty's gov- 
ernment had no purpose or intention to 
make even the smallest acquisition of terri- 
tory on the South American continent or 



ROOSEVELT. 217 

the islands adjacent. This voluntary and 
friendly declaration was afterward repeated 
to the secretary of state, and was received 
by the president and the people of the United 
States in the frank and cordial spirit in which 
it was offered. In the memorandum of the 
11th of December, his excellency, the German 
ambassador, repeats these assurances as fol- 
lows: "We declare especially that under no 
circumstances do we consider in our pro- 
ceedings the acquisition or the permanent 
occupation of Venezuelan territory." 

In the said memorandum of the 11th of 
December the German government informs 
that of the United States that it has certain 
just claims for money and for damages wrong- 
fully withheld from German subjects by the 
government of Venezuela, and that it pro- 
poses to take certain coercive measures de- 
scribed in the memorandum to enforce the 
payment of these just claims. 

The president of the United States, appre- 
ciating the courtesy of the German govern- 
ment in making him acquainted with the 
state of affairs referred to, and not regarding 
himself as called upon to enter into the con- 
sideration of the claims in question, believes 
that no measures will be taken in this matter 
by the agents of the German government 



218 ROOSEVELT. 

which are not in accordance with the well- 
known purpose above set forth, of his majesty, 
the German emperor. 

Sir Michael Herbert to the Marquis of 
Lansdowne : 

Washington, D. C, Nov. 13, 1902.— I com- 
municated to Mr. Hay this morning the sub- 
stance of your lordship's telegram of the 11th 
instant. His excellency stated in reply that 
the United States government, although they 
regretted that European powers should use 
force against Central and South American 
countries, could not object to their taking 
steps to obtain redress for injuries suffered 
by their subjects, provided that no acquisi- 
tion of territory was contemplated. 

"Both powers assured us in explicit terms 
that there was not the slightest intention 
on their part to violate the principles of 
the Monroe Doctrine, and this assurance 
was kept with an honorable good faith 
which merits full acknowledgment on our 
part. 

"At the same time the existence of hos- 
tilities in a region so near our own borders 
was fraught with such possibilities of dan- 
ger in the future that it was obviously no 



ROOSEVELT. 219 

less our duty to ourselves than our duty 
to humanity to endeavor to put an end to 
that. Accordingly, by an offer of our good 
services in a spirit of frank friendliness to 
all the parties concerned, a spirit in which 
they quickly and cordially responded, we 
secured a resumption of peace — the con- 
tending parties agreeing that the matters 
which they could not settle among them- 
oelves should be referred to The Hague 
tribunal for settlement, 

"The United States had most fortunate- 
ly already been able to set an example to 
other nations by utilizing the great possi- 
bilities for good contained in The Hague tri- 
bunal, a question at issue between our- 
selves and the republic of Mexico being the 
first submitted to this international court 
of arbitration. 

"The terms which we have secured as 
those under which the isthmian canal is to 
be built, and the course of events in the 
Venezuelan matter, have shown not merely 
the ever-growing influence of the United 
States in the western hemisphere, but also, 



220 ROOSEVELT. 

I think I may safely say, have exemplified 
the firm purpose of the United States that 
its growth and influence and power shall 
redound not to the harm, but to the benefit 
of our sister republics, whose strength is 
less. Our growth, therefore, is beneficial to 
human kind in general. 

"We do not intend to assume any position 
which can give just offense to our neigh- 
bors. Our adherence to the rule of human 
right is not merely profession. The history 
of our dealings with Cuba shows that we 
reduce it to performance. 

" The Monroe Doctrine is not international 
law, and, though I think one day it may 
become such, this is not necessary as long 
as it remains a cardinal feature of our for- 
eign policy and as long as we possess both 
the will and the strength to make it ef- 
fective. 

"The last point, my fellow-citizens, is all 
important, and is one which as a people we 
can never afford to forget. I believe in the 
Monroe Doctrine with all my heart and 
soul; I am convinced that the immense 



ROOSEVELT. 221 

majority of our fellow-countrymen so be- 
lieve in it; but I would infinitely prefer to 
see us abandon it than to see us put it for- 
ward and bluster about it, and yet fail to 
build up the efficient fighting strength which 
in the last resort can alone make it respected 
by any strong foreign power whose interest 
it may ever happen to be to violate it. 

"Boasting and blustering are as objec- 
tionable among nations as among individuals; 
and the public men of a great nation owe 
it to their sense of national self-respect 
to speak courteously of foreign powers, 
just as a brave and self-respecting man 
treats all around him courteously. But 
though to boast is bad, and causelessly to 
insult another worse, yet worse than all is 
it to be guilty of boasting, even without 
insult, and when called to the proof to be 
unable to make such boasting good. 

"There is a homely old adage which runs : 
'Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will 
go far.' If the American nation will speak 
softly, and yet build, and keep at a pitch 
of the highest training a thoroughly effi- 



222 ROOSEVELT. 

cient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far. 
I ask you to think over this. 

"If you do you will come to the conclu- 
sion that it is mere plain common sense, 
so obviously sound that only the blind can 
fail to see its truth and only the weakest 
and most irresolute can fail to desire to put 
it into force. 

"Well, in the last two years, I am happy 
to say, we have taken long strides in ad- 
vance as regards our navy. The last con- 
gress, in addition to smaller vessels, pro- 
vided nine of those formidable fighting 
ships upon which the real efficiency of any 
navy in war ultimately depends. It pro- 
vided, moreover, for the necessary addition 
of officers and enlisted men to make the ships 
worth having. 

"Meanwhile the navy department has 
seen to it that our ships have been con- 
stantly exercised at sea with the great 
guns, and in maneuvers, so that their ef- 
ficiency as fighting units, both individually 
and when acting together, has been steadily 
improved. 



ROOSEVELT. 223 

"Remember that all of this is necessary. 
A warship is a huge bit of mechanism, well 
nigh as delicate and complicated as it is 
formidable. It takes years to build it. It 
takes years to teach the officers and men 
how to handle it to good advantage. It is 
an absolute impossibility to improvise a 
navy at the outset of war. No recent war 
between any two nations has lasted as long 
as it takes to build a battleship, and it is 
just as impossible to improvise the officers 
or the crews as to improvise the navy. 

"To lay up a battleship and only send it 
afloat at the outset of a war, with a raw 
crew and untried officers, would be not 
me e y a folly_ but a crime, for it would in- 
vite both disaster and disgrace. The navy 
which so quickly decided in our favor the 
war in 1898 had been built and made ef- 
ficient during the preceding fifteen years. 
The ships that triumphed off Manila and 
Santiago had been built under previous ad- 
ministrations with money appropriated by 
previous congresses. The officers and the 
men did their duty so well because they had 



224 ROOSEVELT. 

already been trained to it by long sea serv- 
ice. 

"All honor to the gallant officers and 
gallant men who actually did the firghting 
but remember, too, to honor the public 
men, the shipwrights and steelworkers, the 
owners of the shipyards and armor plants, 
to whose united foresight and exertion we 
owe it that in 1898 we had craft so good, 
guns so excellent, and American seamen of 
so high a type in the conning towers, in the 
gun turrets, and in the engine rooms. 

"It is too late to prepare for war when 
war has come, and if we only prepare suffi- 
ciently no war will ever come. We wish a 
powerful and efficient navy, not for pur- 
poses of war, but as the surest guaranty of 
peace. 

"If we have such a navy — if we keep on 
building it up — we may rest assured that 
there is but the smallest chance that trouble 
will ever come to this nation, and we may 
likewise rest assured that no foreign power 
will ever quarrel with us about the Monroe 
Doctrine." 




VICiJ-PRESIDENT ROOaEVELT. 



ROOSEVELT. 225 



CHAPTER XV. 

LATEST PUBLIC UTTERANCES. 

Saturday afternoon, September 23rd, 
1899, the first bugle-blast of the Ohio Re- 
publican campaign rang out from Akron, 
long and loud and clear. The bugle was 
in the hand of Governor Roosevelt, who 
called his comrades to arms, and in im- 
passioned earnestness besought them to 
stand firm and fearless by their country's 
flag. There were fifty thousand people 
from every part of the State of Ohio pres- 
ent at this great patriotic demonstra- 
tion. Farmers and manufacturers, store- 
keepers and workingmen with their sons 
and wives and daughters made up the 
interested throng. 

Many of our great orators have passed 
away of late. Phillips and Gough and 
Beecher, James G. Blaine and Colonel 
Ingersoll will wake the echoes no more. 



226 EOOSEVELT. 

But with such orators as Theodore 
Roosevelt we have nothing to fear. 
While such men are to be found, true 
Americanism will not know the lack of 
able, eloquent advocacy. 

The oration of Governor Roosevelt at 
Akron was at once an argument, an ex- 
postulation and a plea. There was the 
vim and force of the warrior, the fervor 
of the patriot and withal the grand ac- 
cent of manliness in every sentence. We 
quote a few of the most salient para- 
graphs: 

"The value of a political party and the 
worth to a nation of a public man must 
depend very largely upon their sincerity ; 
and, indeed, the worth of a nation can 
be to a certain extent gauged by the sin- 
cerity it exacts from its public men and 
its parties. If a party raises an issue 
which it knows is aj false issue, merely for 
the hope of carrying an election, then 
that party shows in the most striking 
way that it is the enemy of the country 
and unfit to be intrusted with its govern- 



ROOSEVELT. 227 

ment The squaring of one's deeds with 
one's words is the quality above all 
others which we should exact from pub- 
lic men and from the spokesmen of great 
parties, whether these spokesmen appear 
upon the stump or speak through the 
platforms of their parties. If the spokes- 
men of a part}' do not and cannot believe 
what they say, whether in the way of 
denunciation or promise, and especially 
if they promise what they know they can- 
not perform, and what is palpably in- 
tended not to result in performance, but 
in vote-getting at the moment, then they 
insult the conscience and the intelligence 
of every freeman fit to exercise a free- 
man's privilege. 

"The salvation of this country lies to 
no small extent in the fact that while 
the bulk of our people fully appreciate 
the importance of party, and the useful- 
ness of party government, yet that they 
put counti*y above party. More than once 
in the past, when the leaders of a great 
party, drunk with madness, have fol- 



228 EOOSEVELT. 

lowed a path that meant terrible disaster 
to the nation, the nation has been saved 
by the fact that the best men in the party 
declined to follow the leaders who would 
make it false to the past, false to the 
country, false to the ideals of its best 
men. So it was in the Civil War, when the 
war Democrats honored themselves by 
standing by the country ; and so it will be 
now, for we have a right to call upon all 
sincere lovers of the flag, upon all be- 
lievers in national honesty and civic up- 
rightness, upon all men who wish to 
bring about) the betterment and uplifting 
of the mass of the people, to stand with 
us until the heresies for which our op- 
ponents now fight have been relegated to 
the unclean dust where they belong. 
* * » 

"Are the people of this country so short- 
sighted that they forget the miseries of 
six years ago? Do they forget the bread 
riots, the poverty, the squalid want, even 
of those able and anxious to work? I ap- 
peal to the evidence of your own senses. 



ROOSEVELT. 229 

Are you or are you not better off than 
you were six years ago? The farmer, the 
tradesman, the ma^ with the dinner pail, 
the wage-worker — are these men as a 
whole better or worse off than they were 
six years ago? In a great community 
there is, and there always will be, in- 
dividual suffering, not only among the 
shiftless and the ne'er-do-wells, but at 
certain times and in certain places among 
the honest and industrious with whom 
fate has gone hard. We cannot by any 
laws bring happiness and prosperity to 
everyone, but we can do what the Repub- 
lican party has actually done; that is, by 
wise legislation and wise administration 
secured the chance for the great bulk of 
our people to live out their lives and do 
their work with the odds as much as pos- 
sible in their favor; the conditions as 
favorable as they can be made. 

"In the long run it is not in the power 
of any man or of any outside force to 
lower the standard of living of the Amer- 
ican workingman, unless the American 



230 ROOSEVELT. 

workingman does it himself. If the 
wage-workers act with wisdom and with 
forethought, if they show far-sighted pru- 
dence in their combinations, industrial 
and political, their ultimate welfare is 
assured. In the long run only the Amer- 
ican workingman can hurt himself. 
* « « 

"Those who would encourage anarchy 
at home must naturally strike hands with 
the enemies of our country abroad. The 
friend of the bomb-thrower and his apol- 
ogists are doing what is fit and meet 
when they strike hands across the seas 
with those who are fighting our soldiers 
in foreign lands. Fundamentally the 
causes which they champion are the 
same. The step from encouraging the 
assassination of the guardians of the law 
at home to the aiding and abetting of the 
shooting down of our soldiers abroad is 
but a short one; and it matters little 
whether the encouragement be given by 
the exercise of the pardoning power, by 
raving speeches upon the platform, or by 



EOOSEVELT. 231 

the circulation of silly documents com- 
posed by men too feeble to accomplish 
the mischief they design. Make no mis- 
take! In the Philippines we are at war 
with an enemy who must be put down. 
It is absolutely impossible to save our 
honor except through victory, and it is 
equally impossible to win peace, to re- 
store order in the islands, or to prepare 
the way for self-government there save 
through victory. Every argument that 
our opponents make now is exactly such 
as if they were logical they would make 
on behalf of the Sioux Indians in South 
Dakota or the Apaches in New Mexico, 
and such as they actually did make at 
the outbreak of the Civil War. If we have 
no moral right to interfere in the Philip- 
pines then we have no moral right to in- 
terfere in an Indian reservation. If we 
have no right in Luzon and should leave 
it to the Tagals, then we have no right in 
Alaska and should leave it to the Indians 
and Eskimos. Not one argument can be 
made for the proposed line of conduct in 



232 EOOSEVELT„ 

the one case that does not apply with 
exactly as much force to the other. 
* * * 

"People tell you that the Filipinos are 
fighting for independence. This was ex- 
actly what the copperheads of 1861 said 
of the Confederates. Here in Ohio, Val- 
landigham ran on the issue that the war 
was a failure and that the independence 
of the Southern States should be 
acknowledged. The feeble Vallan- 
dighams of to-day take the same 
position, and if Ohio is true to the great 
memories of her past, she will give the 
same answer now that she gave then. 
No man can hesitate in this strug- 
gle and ever afterward call him- 
self a true American and a true 
patriot. He must stand by the flag. He 
must uphold the honor and the interest 
of the nation, and the only way in which 
he can stand by the one and uphold the 
other is to overwhelm the party that as- 
sails both. Undying shame shall be his 
portion if he does not stand with us at 



ROOSEVELT. 233 

this crisis. There is no man living now 
who has anything but a feeling of respect 
for the gallant Confederates who showed 
their sincerity in the appeal to arms and 
valiantly risked their lives for what they 
mistakenly thought to be the right; but 
scant, indeed, is our sympathy for their 
Northern allies who sat at home and 
talked treason, but never exposed their 
bodies to the risk of paying for their 
words. 



"You will meet short-sighted people 
who say that Dewey, after sinking the 
Spanish fleet, should have sailed away 
from Manila Bay. Of course such con- 
duct was impossible. It is not too much 
to say that such conduct would have been 
infamous. Either the islands would have 
been left to their own fate had such a 
course been followed, in which case a 
series of bloody massacres would have 
taken place and the war between the 
Spaniards and Filipinos would have 



234 EOOSEVELT. 

dragged along its wretched length until 
some outside interference took place; or 
else, what is far more probable, as 
Dewey's fleet sailed out the fleet of some 
European power would have sailed in, 
and we should have had the keen morti- 
fication of seeing the task which we 
shrank from begun by some nation which 
did not distrust its own powers, which 
had the courage to dare to be great. 
Dewey had to stay and we had to finish 
the job we had begun. 

"The talk about the Filipinos having 
practically' achieved their independence 
is, of course, the veriest nonsense. Aguin- 
aldo, who has turned against us, owed 
his return to the islands to us. It was 
our troops and not the Filipinos who 
conquered the Spaniards, and as a conse- 
quence, it was to us the islands fell, and 
we shall show ourselves not merely weak- 
lings unfit to take our place among the 
great nations of the world, but traitors 
to the cause of the advancement of man- 
kind if we flinch from doing aright tJie 



ROOSEVELT. 235 

task which destiny has intrusted to our 
hand. 

"We have no more right to leave the 
Filipinos to butcher one another and sink 
slowly back into savagery than we would 
have the right, in an excess of sentimen- 
tality, to declare the Sioux or Apaches 
free to expel all white settlers from the 
lands they once held. The Filipinos offer 
excellent material for the future; with 
our aid they may be brought up to the 
level of self-government, but at present 
they cannot stand alone for any length 
of time. A weak nation can be pardoned 
for giving up a work which it does badly, 
but a strong nation cannot be pardoned 
for flinching from a great work because, 
forsooth, there are attendant difficulties 
and hardships. The century which is just 
closing has seen what the century which 
is opening will surely also see — vast 
strides in civilization, the result of the 
conquest of the world's waste spaces, the 
result of the expansion of the great, mas- 
terful, ruling races of the world. There 



236 ROOSEVELT. 

is much prattle and much shrieking 
against expansion. Are the prattlers so 
ignorant as not to know that the ex- 
istence of the United States is due to the 
greatest application of the expansion 
policy which the world has ever seen? If 
our forefathers who came over the seas 
to settle in the vast wooded wilderness 
along the Atlantic seaboard nearly two 
centuries ago had been as timid as those 
degenerate descendants of theirs who 
now protest against expansion this con- 
tinent would still be nothing but the 
hunting ground of the red men. 



"Russia has expanded in Asia, Eng- 
land in Asia, Africa and Australia, and 
France and Germany in Africa, all with 
the strides of giants during the years that 
have just passed. In every instance the 
expansion has taken place because the 
race was a great race. It was a sign and 
proof of greatness in the expanding na- 
tion, and moreover bear in mind that in 



ROOSEVELT. 237 

each instance it was of incalculable ben- 
efit to mankind. In Australia a great 
sister commonwealth to our own has 
sprung up. In India a peace like the 
Roman peace has been established, and 
the country made immeasurably better. 
So it is in Egypt, in Algiers and at the 
Cape, while Siberia, before our very eyes, 
is being changed from the seat of wander- 
ing tribes of ferocious nomads into a 
great civilized country. When great na- 
tions fear to expand, shrink from expan- 
sion, it is because their greatness is com- 
ing to an end. Are we still in the prime 
of our lusty youth, still at the beginning 
of our glorious manhood, to sit down 
among the outworn people, to take our 
place with the weak and craven? A 
thousand times no! A thousand times 
rather face any difflculty— rather meet 
and overcome any danger — than turn the 
generous and vigorous blood of our na- 
tional life into the narrow channels of 
ignominy and fear." 



238 ROOSEVELT. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE STUDY AND THE HOME. 

Governor Roosevelt has always been a 
devoted student. If he had given himself 
wholly to literary work, he would have 
made a great place for himself in the 
world of thought. We have called at- 
tention earlier in these pages to his mas- 
terly and impressive "History of the 
Naval War of 1812." This exhaustive 
and comprehensive volume has been, and 
is, and will be for many years to come, a 
standard work of fully recognized author- 
ity. Then followed in due order, "The 
Life of Thomas H. Benton," "The Life of 
Gouverneur Morris." 

Mr. Roosevelt has also written three 
bulky volumes: "The Wilderness Hunt- 
er," "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman," 
and "Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail," 
which stand as the classics of big game 
hunting in North America, He has a 



ROOSEVELT. 239 

clear, enlivening style of narrative, and 
conveys his impressions just as he talks, 
with straightforward truthfulness and 
earnestness. The style is the man. These 
three books are of the kind that make 
an active boy thrill and thrill and long 
for the touch of a trigger. 

While a Civil Service Commissioner, 
Mr. Roosevelt produced a series of four 
books, which he considers his "magnum 
opus." These volumes form the "Win- 
ning of the West" series and are as fol- 
lows: 

Vol. I. "From the AUeghanies to the 
Mississippi, 1769-1770." 

Vol. II. "From the AUeghanies to the 
Mississippi, 1776-1783." 

Vol. III. "The Founding of the Trans- 
Alleghany C-ommonwealths, 1781-1790." 

Vol. IV. "Louisiana and the North- 
west, 1791-1809." 

His volume of essays published by 
Putnam's Sons, entitled "American 
Ideals," is one of the grandest compen- 
diums of the philosophy of True Ameri- 



240 KOOSEVELT. 

canisin to be found in the language, it 
ought to be in the hands and well digest- 
ed by the minds of every young Ameri- 
can. 

Mr. Roosevelt's home in Oyster Bay, 
Long Island, is an ideal «home. There 
the unselfish politician, the valiant sol- 
dier, the busy author are all subordinated 
to the kindly husband and the happy 
father. The home at Sagamore Hill is a 
pleasant little commonwealth of peace 
and prosperity. 

Mr. Roosevelt's first wife, Miss Alice 
Lee of Boston, died in 1884, leav- 
ing one infant daughter. Two years 
later he married Miss Edith Ker- 
mit Carow, a friend of his first wife. 
There are six children, Alice, and "Ted- 
dy," Jr., Kermit and Ethel, Archie and 
Quentin; forming a right merry company 
when their father, turning away from 
his books and laying aside the cares of 
state, joins their games and helps their 
merriment by being a boy among his 
boys and girls. 



ROOSEVELT. 241 

One of his biographers tells how that 
on a certain occasion Mr. Koosevelt was 
called upon to make a speech, of the 
simplest possible kind, and yet the most 
difficult, to the children of the Cove 
School at Oyster Bay. He began by con- 
fessing cheerfully that when he was a 
boy he was always looking for an excuse 
to stay away from school. "There are 
two things," he said, "that I want you 
to make up your minds to. First, that 
you are going to have a good time as long 
as you live — I have no use for a sour- 
faced man — and next, make up your 
minds that you are going to do some- 
thing worth while. You are going to 
work hard and do the things you start 
out to do. 

"Don't let any one impose on you. 
Don't be quarrelsome. But stand up for 
your rights. If you've got to fight, fight 
and fight hard and well. To my mind a 
coward is the only thing meaner than a 
liar. 

"Work hard, but have a good time, too. 



242 ROOSEVELT. 

If in your work you find a chance for a 
holiday take it. Enjoy it just as much as 
you can. But don't think that you can 
have a holiday all your lives, because that 
isn't so. You are going to work hard; 
you must 

"Be brave, but be gentle to little girls 
and to all dumb animals. The boy who 
maltreats animals is not worth having 
his neck wrung." 



ROOSEVELT. 243 

SYMPOSIUM 

OF 

Brilliant Tliouolits and Inspirino Words 

FROM THE ESSAYS AND ORATIONS OF 

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT. 



ECHOES OF GLORY AND A LEGACY 
OF HONOR. 

The guns that thundered off Manila 
and Santiago left us echoes of glory, but 
they also left us a legacy of duty. If we 
drove out a medieval tyranny only to 
make room for savage anarchy, we had 
better not have begun the task at all. It 
is worse than idle to say that we have 
no duty to perform and can leave to their 
fates the islands we have conquered. 
Such a course would be the course of in- 



244 EOOSEVELT. 

famy. It would be followed at once by 
utter chaos in the wretched islands 
themselves. Some stronger, manlier 
power would have to step in and do the 
work; and we would have shown our- 
selves weaklings, unable to carry to suc- 
cessful completion the labors that great 
and high-spirited nations are eager to 
undertake. The work must be done. We 
cannot escape our responsibility, and if 
we are worth our salt, we shall be glad 
of the chance to do the work — glad of the 
chance to show ourselves equal to one of 
the great tasks set modern civilization. 
But let us not deceive ourselves as to 
the importance of the task. Let us not 
be misled by vain-glory into under- 
estimating the strain it will put on our 
powers. Above all, as we value our own 
self-respect, let us face the responsibil- 
ities with proper seriousness, courage 
and high resolve. 

HONEST BUT HARMFUL. 

The professional labor agitator, with 



ROOSEVELT. 245 

all his reckless incendiarism of speech, 
can do more harm than the narrow, hard, 
selfish merchant or manufacturer who 
delibarately sets himself to keep the 
laborers he employs in a condition of de- 
pendence which will render them help- 
less to combine against him, and every 
such merchant or manufacturer who 
rises to sufficient eminence leaves the 
record of his name and deeds as a legacy 
of evil to all who come after him. 

THE IDEAL OF THE FEDERALIST. 

The ideal to be set before the student 
of politics and the practical politician 
alike is the ideal of the Federalist. Each 
man should realize that he cannot do 
his best, either in the study of politics 
or in applied politics unless he has a 
working knowledge of both branches. A 
limited number of people can do good 
work by the careful study of govern- 
mental institutions, but they can do it 
only if they have themselves a practical 



246 ROOSEVELT. 

knowledge of the workings of these in- 
stitutions. A very large number of peo- 
ple, on the other hand, may do excellent 
work in politics without much theoretic 
knowledge of the subject; but without 
this knowledge they cannot rise to the 
highest rank, while in any rank their 
capacity to do good work will be im- 
mensely increased if they have such 
knowledge. 



THE AGE HAS GREAT TASKS. 

We of this generation do not have to 
face a task such as that our fathers faced, 
but we have our tasks, and woe to us if 
we fail to perform them! We cannot, if 
we would, play the part of China, and be 
content to rot by inches in ignoble ease 
within our borders, taking no interest in 
what goes on beyond them; sunk in a 
scrambling commercialism; heedless of 
the higher life, the life of aspiration, of 
toil and risk; busying ourselves only with 



ROOSEVELT. 247 

the wants of our bodies for the day; until 
suddenly we should find, beyond a 
shadow of question, what China has al- 
ready found, that in this world the na- 
tion that has trained itself to a career 
of unwarlike and isolated ease is bound 
in the end to go down before other na- 
tions which have not lost the manly and 
adventurous qualities. If we are to be 
a really great people, we must strive in 
good faith to play a great part in the 
world. We cannot avoid meeting great 
issues. All that we can determine for 
ourselves is whether we shall meet them 
well or ill. Last year we could not help 
being brought face to face with the prob- 
lem of war with Spain. All we could de- 
cide was whether we should shirk like 
cowards from the contest or enter into it 
as beseemed a brave and high-spirited 
people; and, once in, whether failure or 
success should crown our banners. So 
it is now. We cannot avoid the respon- 
sibilities that confront us in Hawaii, 
Cuba, Porto Kico, and the Philippines. 



248 EOOSEVELT. 

All we can decide is whether we shall 
meet them in a way that will redound 
to the national credit, or whether we 
shall make of our dealings with these 
new problems a dark and shameful page 
in our history. To refuse to deal with 
them at all merely amounts to dealing 
with them badly. We have a given prob- 
lem to solve. If we undertake the solu- 
tion, there is, of course, always danger 
that we may not solve it aright, but to 
refuse to undertake the solution simply 
renders it certain that we cannot possibly 
serve it aright. 



ALIEN ELEMENTS. 

The mighty tide of immigration to our 
shores has brought in its train much of 
good and much of evil; and whether the 
good or the evil shall predominate de- 
pends mainly on whether these newcom- 
ers do or do not throw themselves heart' 
ily into our national life, cease to be Eu- 



KOOSEVELT. 249 

ropean, and become Americans like the 
rest of us. More than a third of the peo- 
ple of the Northern States are of foreign 
birth or parentage. An immense number 
of them have become completely Amer- 
icanized, and these stand on exactl}^ the 
same plane as the descendants of any 
Puritan, Cavalier, or Knickerbocker 
among us, and do their full and honor- 
able share of the nation's work. But 
where immigrants, or the sons of immi- 
grants, do not heartily and in good faith 
throw in their lot with us, but cling to 
the speech, the customs, the ways of life, 
and the habits of thought of the Old 
World which they have left, they thereby 
harm both themselves and us. If they 
remain alien elements, unassimilated, 
and with interests separate from ours, 
they are mere obstructions to the current 
of our national life, and, moreover, can 
get no good from it themselves. In fact, 
though we ourselves also suffer from 
their perversity, it is they who really 
suffer most. 



250 ROOSEVELT, 

THE PERIL OF THE LAWLESS 
CLASSES. 

Every true American, every man who 
thinks, and who, if the occasion comes, is 
ready to act, may do well to ponder upon 
the evil wrought by the lawlessness of 
the disorderly classes when once they are 
able to elect their own chiefs to power. 



THE EMOTIONAL AND THE PRAC- 
TICAL IN MORALS. 

While there is in modern times a de- 
crease in emotional religion, there is an 
immense decrease in practical moral- 
ity. There is a decrease of the 
martial type found among savages 
and the people of the Middle Ages, 
except as it still survives in the 
slums of great cities; but there remains 
a martial type infinitely more efficient 
than any that preceded it. There are 
great branches of industry which call 
forth in those that follow them more 



ROOSEVELT. 251 

hardihood, manliness, and courage than 
any industry of ancient times. The im- 
mense masses of men connected with the 
railroads are continually called upon to 
exercise qualities of mind and body such 
as in antiquity no trade and no handi- 
craft demanded. 

THE UNIVERSITY MAN SHOULD 
PLAY HIS PART IN POLITICS. 

The man with a university education 
is in honor bound to take an active part 
in our political life, and to do his full 
duty as a citizen by helping his fellow- 
citizens to the extent of his power in the 
exercise of the rights of self-government. 
He is bound to rank action far above 
criticism,and to understand that the man 
deserving of credit is the man who actual- 
ly does the things, even though imper- 
fectly, and not the man who confines him- 
self to talking about how they ought to 
be done. He is bound to have a high 
ideal and to strive to realize it, and yet 



252 ROOSEVELT. 

he must make up his mind that he will 
never be able to get the highest good, and 
that he must devote himself with all his 
energy to getting the best that he can. 
Finally, his work must be disinterested 
and honest, and it must be given without 
regard to his own success or failure, and 
without regard to the effect it has upon 
his own fortunes; and while he must 
show the virtues of uprightness and tol- 
erance and gentleness, he must also show 
the sterner virtues of courage, resolu- 
tion and hardihood, and the desire to war 
with merciless effectiveness against the 
existence of wrong. 

THE WORST FOES OF AMERICA. 

The worst foes of America are the foes 
to that orderly liberty without which our 
republic must speedily perish. The reck- 
less labor agitator who arouses the mob 
is in the last analysis the most dangerous 
of the working man's enemies. This man 
is a real peril ; and so is his sympathizer, 



EOOSEVELT. 253 

the legislator, who, to catch votes, de- 
nounces the judiciary and the military 
because they put down mobs. 



TRIBUTE TO GENERAL WOOD. 

To General Wood has fallen the duty 
of preserving order, of seeing that the 
best Cubans begin to administer the gov- 
ernment, of pix)tecting the lives and 
properties of the Spaniards from the 
vengeance of their foes, and of securing 
the best hygienic conditions possible in 
the city; of opening the schools, and of 
endeavoring to re-establish agriculture 
and commerce in a ruined and desolate 
land. 

The sanitary state of the city of San- 
tiago v/as fdghtful beyond belief. The 
Cuban army consisted of undisciplined, 
unpaid men on the verge of becoming 
mere bandits. The Cuban chiefs were 
not only jealous of one another, but, very 
naturally, bitterly hostile to the Span- 



254 ROOSEVELT. 

iards who remained in the land. On the 
other hand, the men of property, not only 
among the Spaniards, but even among 
the Cubans, greatly feared the revolu- 
tionary army. All conditions were ripe 
for a period of utter anarchy, and under 
a weak, a foolish, or a violent man this 
anarchy would certainly have come. 
General Wood, by his energy, his firm- 
ness, his common sense, and his modera- 
tion, has succeeded in working as great 
an improvement as was possible in so 
short a time. By degrees he has substi- 
tuted the best Cubans he can find in the 
places both of the old Spanish ofiicials 
and of the Americans who were put iu 
temporary control. He permits not the 
slightest violence either on the part of 
the American soldiers or of the inhabit- 
ants; he does absolute, even justice to all. 

OWN BKOTHERS TO SHORT- 
SIGHTED MEN. 

The men who to-day protest against a 
navy, and protest also against every 



ROOSEVELT. 255 

movement to carry out the traditional 
policy of the country in foreign affairs, 
and to uphold the honor of the flag, are 
themselves but following in the course 
of those who protested against the ac- 
quisition of the great West, and who 
failed to make proper preparations for 
the War of 1812, or refused to support it 
after it had been made. They are own 
brothers to the men whose short-sighted- 
ness and supine indifference prevented 
any reorganization of the personnel of 
the navy during the middle of the cen- 
tury, so that we entered upon the Civil 
War with captains seventy years old. 
They are close kin to the men who, when 
the Southern States seceded, wished to 
let the Union be disrupted in peace rather 
than restored through the grim agony of 
armed conflict. 



OUR IMMEDIATE DUTY. 

I think most Americans realize that 
facts must be faced, and that for the 



256 ROOSEVELT. 

present, and in the immediate future, we 
shall have, whether we wish it or not, to 
provide a working government, not only 
for Hawaii and Porto Ilico, but for Cuba 
and the Philippines. We may not wish 
the Philippines, and may regret that cir- 
cumstances have forced us to take them; 
but we have taken them, and stay there 
we must for the time being — whether this 
temporary stay paves the way for per- 
manent occupation, or whether it is to 
last only until some more satisfactory ar- 
rangement, whether by native rule or 
otherwise, takes its place. Discussion of 
theories will not avail much; we have a 
bit of very practical work to be done, and 
done it must be, somehow. I am certain 
that if the Cubans show themselves en- 
tirely fit to establish and carry on a free 
and orderly government, the great mass 
of my fellow-citizens will gladly permit 
them to decide themselves as to the des- 
tiny of Cuba, and will allow them to be 
independent if they so desire. I am also 
certain that Americans would take much 




SENATOR CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW 
Who seconded Koosevelt's nomination for the Vice-Presidency. 



ROOSEVELT. 257 

this position in regard to the Philippines 
were the conditions such as to justify it. 
But I am also certain that our people will 
neither permit the islands again to fall 
into the clutches of Spain or of some 
power of Continental Europe which 
would have interfered to our harm in the 
last war if it had dared to, nor yet permit 
them to sink into a condition of squalid 
and savage anarchy. 

WE MUST NOT SHIRK. 

The policy of shirking our responsibil- 
ities cannot be adopted. To refuse to at- 
tempt to secure good government in the 
new territories acquired last summer 
would simply mean that we were weak- 
lings, not worthy to stand among the 
great races of the world. Such a policy 
would itself be a failure; and if we fol- 
low any other policy we can do no worse 
than fail; so it may be taken for granted 
that we are going to try the experiment. 
All that remains is to see that we try it 



258 ROOSEVELT. 

under conditions which give us most 
chances of success; that is, which render 
it most likely that we shall give good 
government to the conquered provinces, 
and therefore add to the honor and re- 
nown of the American name no less than 
to the material well-being of our people 
at home and abroad. 

THE MAN OF WORTH TO THE COM- 
MONWEALTH. 

No man is worth much to the common- 
wealth if he is not capable of feeling 
righteous wrath, and just indignation, if 
he is not stirred to hot anger by misdo- 
ing, and is not impelled to see justice 
meted out to the wrong-doer. 

PHYSICAL AND MORAL COURAGE. 

That orderly liberty which is both the 
foundation and the capstone of our 
civilization can be gained and kept only 
by men who are willing to fight for an 
ideal; who hold high the love of honor, 



ROOSEVELT. 259 

love of faith, love of flag, and love of 
country. It is true that no nation can be 
really great unless it is great in peace; in 
industry, integrity, honesty. Skilled in- 
telligence in civic affairs and industrial 
enterprises alike; the special ability of 
the artist, the man of letters, the man of 
science, and the man of business; the 
rigid determination to wrong no man, 
and to stand for righteousness — all these 
are necessary in a great nation. But it 
is also necessary that the nation should 
have physical no less than moral cour- 
age; the capacity to do and dare and die 
at need, and that grim and steadfast reso- 
lution which alone will carry a great peo- 
ple through a great peril. 

" 'Tis man's perdition to be safe 
When for the truth he ought to die." 



THE PREACHERS OF DISCONTENT. 

Something can be done by good laws; 
more can be done by honest administra- 



260 KOOSEVELT. 

tion of the laws; but most of all can be 
done by frowning resolutely on the 
preachers of vague discontent 



IMPRACTICABLE DOCTRINAIRES. 

I do not believe that any considerable 
number of our citizens are stamped with 
this timid lack of patriotism. There are 
some "doctrinaires" whose eyes are so 
firmly fixed on the golden vision of uni- 
versal peace that they cannot see the 
grim facts of real life until they stumble 
over them, to their own hurt, and, what 
is much worse, to the possible undoing 
of their fellows. There are some edu- 
cated men in whom education merely 
serves to soften the fibre and to elim- 
inate the higher, sterner qualities which 
tell for national greatness; and these 
men prate about love for mankind, or for 
another country, as being in some hidden 
way a substitute for love of their own 
country. 



KOOSEVELT. 261 

WHAT NATIONS OWE TO THEIR 
GREAT MEN. 

Every great nation owes to the men 
whose lives have formed part of its great- 
ness not merely the material effect of 
what they did, not merely the laws they 
placed upon the statute books or the vic- 
tories they won over armed foes, but also 
the immense but indefinable moral in- 
fluence produced by their wor'ds and 
deeds upon the national character. 



GENERAL WOOD IN SANTIAGO. 

What General Wood has done in San- 
tiago other officials must do elsewhere 
in Cuba, in Porto Rico and in the Philip- 
pines, not to speak of Hawaii, if our rule 
in these islands is to be honorable to our- 
selves and advantageous to the natives. 
There is no need of prattling about the 
impossibility of governing the island un- 
der our constitution and system of gov- 
ernment. The men who so prattle merely 



262 EOOSEVELT. 

show their own weakness; there is not 
the slightest difficulty in governing the 
islands if we set about governing them 
well, and if we choose the General Woods 
because they are fit for the task and not 
because they are pressed by selfish inter- 
ests, whether political or commercial. 
The inhabitants of the islands are not at 
the moment fit to govern themselves. In 
some places they may speedily become 
fit; in other places the intervening time 
may be very long indeed. Until the mo- 
ment does arrive, they have got to be gov- 
erned; and they have got to be governed 
by men carefully chosen, who are on the 
ground, who know what the needs really 
are, and who have the power given them 
to meet these needs. Politics should have 
as little to do with the choice of our 
colonial administrators as it should have 
to do with the choice of an Admiral or a 
General. We cannot afford to trifle with 
our own honor or with the interests of the 
great alien communities over which we 
have assumed supervision. 



KOOSEVELT. 263 

THE MOST IGNOBLE CHARACTER. 
There is not in the world a more igno- 
ble character than the mere money-get- 
ting American, insensible to every duty, 
regardless of every principle, bent only 
on amassing a fortune, and putting his 
fortunes to the basest uses — whether 
these uses be to speculate in stocks and 
wreck railroads himself, or to allow his 
son to lead a life of foolish and expensive 
idleness and gross debauchery, or to pur- 
chase some scoundrel of high social posi- 
tion, foreign or native, for his daughter. 
Such a man is only, the more dangerous if 
he occasionally does some deed like 
founding a college or endowing a church, 
which makes those good people who are 
also foolish forget his real iniquity. 
These men are equally careless of the 
workingmen, whom they oppress, and of 
the state, whose existence they imperil. 
There are not very many of them, but 
there is a very great number of men who 
approach more or less closely to the type, 
and, just in so far as they do so approach. 



264 KOOSEVELT. 

they, are curses to the country. The man 
who is content to let politics go from bad 
to worse, jesting at the corruption of 
Ijoliticians, the man who is content to see 
the maladministration of justice without 
an immediate and resolute effort to re- 
form it, is shirking his duty and is pre- 
paring the way for infinite woe in the 
future. Hard, brutal indifference to the 
right, and an equally brutal short- 
sightedness as to the inevitable results 
of corruption and injustice, are baleful 
beyond measure; and yet they are char- 
acteristic of a great many Americans 
who think themselves perfectly respect- 
able, and who are considered thriving, 
prosperous men by their easy-going fel- 
low-citizens. 

MEN TO WHOM WE OWE MOST. 

We of the United States have passed 
most of our few years of national life in 
peace. We honor the architects of our 
wonderful material prosperity; we ap- 



KOOSEVELT, 265 

predate the necessity of thrift, energy 
and business enterprise, and we know 
that even these are of no avail without 
the civil and social virtues. But we feel, 
after all, that the men who have dared 
greatly in war, or the work which is akin 
to war, are those who deserve best of the 
country. The men of Bunker Hill and 
Trenton, Saratoga and Yorktown, the 
men of New Orleans and Mobile Bay, 
Gettysburg and Appomattox are those 
to whom we owe most. None of our 
heroes of peace, save a few great con- 
structive statesmen, can rank with our 
heroes of war. 

A NATION OF MERE HUCKSTERS. 

There are^ it is true, influences at work 
to shake the vitality, conrage, and man- 
liness of the race; but there are other 
influences which tell in exactly the op- 
posite direction; and, whatever may 
come in the future, hitherto the last set 
of influences have been strongest As 
yet, while men are more gentle and more 



266 ROOSEVELT. 

honest than before, it cannot be said, that 
they are less brave; and they are certain- 
ly more efficient as fighters. If our pop- 
ulation decreases; if we lose the virile, 
manly qualities, and sink into a nation 
of mere hucksters, putting gain above 
national honor, and subordinating every- 
thing to mere ease of life; then we shall 
indeed reach a condition worse than that 
of the ancient civilizations in the years 
of their decay. But at present no com- 
parison could be less apt than that of 
Byzantium, or Rome in its later years, 
with a great modern state where the 
thronging millions who make up the bulk 
of the population are wage-earners, 
who themselves decide their own des- 
tinies; a state which is able in time of 
need to put into the field armies, com- 
posed exclusively of its own citizens, 
more numerous than any which the 
world has ever before seen, and with a 
record of fighting in the immediate past 
with which there is nothing in the an- 
nals of antiquity to compare. 



ROOSEVELT. 267 

IF WE AKE REMISS CUBA WILL 
HAVE A GRIEVANCE. 
If political considerations of the baser 
sort are supreme in the administration of 
New York City, that is New York City's 
own fault; but in the Philippines or in 
Cuba it would be the fault of the Amer- 
ican people and not of the inhabitants, 
and would establish a just grievance on 
behalf of the latter. We cannot afford 
to let politicians do with our public sery- 
ice in our dependencies what they have 
done for the consular service; still less 
can we afford to let doctrinaires, or hon- 
est, ignorant people, decide the difficult 
and delicate questions bound to arise 
in administering the new provinces. We 
cannot possibly, at any rate for the pres- 
ent, do better than to take for each prov- 
ince some man like General Wood, give 
him the largest power possible both as 
to his methods and his subordinates, and 
then hold him to a strict accountability 
for the results; demanding that he pre- 
serve untarnished the honor of the 



268 KOOSEVELT. 

American name, by working, not only 
for the interests of America, but for the 
interests of the people whose temporary 
ruler he ia 



A (NATION'S GREATNESS. 

The men who have profoundly in- 
fluenced the growth of our national 
character have been in most cases pre- 
cisely those men whose influence was for 
the best and was strongly felt as an- 
tagonistic to the worst tendency of the 
age. The great writers, who have writ- 
ten in prose or verse, have done much 
for us. The great orators, whose burn- 
ing words on behalf of liberty, of union, 
of honest government have rung through 
our legislative halls, have done even 
more. Most of all has been done by the 
men who have spoken to us through 
deeds and not words or whose words 
have gathered their especial charm and 
significance because they came from 
men who did speak in deeds. A nation's 



KOOSEVELT. 269 

greatness lies in its possibility of achieve- 
ment in the present, and nothing helps it 
more than the consciousness of achieve- 
ment in the past. 



ENGLAND'S HISTORY RICH IN 
SPLENDID NAMES. 

England's history is rich in splendid 
names and splendid deeds. Her litera- 
ture is even greater than that of Greece. 
In commerce she has stood in the modern 
world as more than Carthage was when 
civilization clustered like a fringe 
around the Mediterranean. But she has 
risen far higher than even Greece or 
Carthage rose, because she possesses 
also the great masterful qualities which 
were possessed by the Romans who over- 
threw them both. England has been fer- 
tile in soldiers and administrators; in 
men who triumphed by sea and land; in 
adventurers and explorers; who won for 
her the world's waste places; and it is 
because of this that the English-speaking 



270 ROOSEVELT. 

race now shares with the Slav the fate of 
the coming years. 

THE WORTHLESS LEAVE NO LAST- 
ING IMPRESS. 

The unscrupulous speculator who rises 
to enormous wealth by swindling his 
neighbor; the capitalist who oppresses 
the w^orkingman; the agitator who 
wrongs the workingman yet more deeply 
by trying to teach him to rely not upon 
himself, but partly upon the charity of 
individuals or of the state and partly 
upon mob violence; the man in public 
life who is a demagogue or corrupt, and 
the newspaper writer who fails to attack 
him because of his corruption, or who 
slanderously assails him when he is hon- 
est; the political leader who, cursed by 
some obliquity of moral or of mental 
vision, seeks to produce sectional or so- 
cial strife — all these, though important 
in their da^^, have hitherto failed to leave 
any lasting impress upon the life of the 
nation. 



ROOSEVELT. 271 

YOUNG MEN NEED ENTHUSIASM. 
For educated men of weak fibre, there 
lies a real danger in that species of 
literary work which appeals to their cul- 
tivated senses because of its scholarly 
and pleasant tone, but which enjoins as 
the proper attitude to assume in public 
life one of mere criticism and negation; 
which teaches the adoption toward pub- 
lic men and public affairs of that sneer- 
ing tone which so surely denotes a mean 
and small mind. If a man does not have 
belief and enthusiasm, the chances are 
small indeed that he will ever do a man's 
work in the world; and the paper or the 
college which, by its general course,tends 
to eradicate this power of belief and en- 
thusiasm, this desire for work, has ren- 
dered to the young men under its in- 
fluence the worst service it could possibly 
render. Good can often be done by 
criticising sharply and severely the 
wrong; but excessive indulgence in 
criticism is never anything but bad, and 
no amount of criticism can in any way 



272 ROOSEVELT. 

take the place of active and zealous war- 
fare for the right. 

WE HOLD IN OUR HANDS THE 
FATE OF COMING YEARS. 

Our nation is that one among all the 
nations of the earth which holds in its 
hands the fate of the coming years. We 
enjoy exceptional advantages, and are 
menaced by exceptional dangers; and all 
signs indicate that we shall either fail 
greatly or succeed greatly. I firmly be- 
lieve that we shall succeed; but we must 
not foolishly blink the dangers by which 
we are threatened, for that is the way 
to fail. On the contrary, we must soberly 
set to work to find out all we can about 
the existence and extent of every evil, 
must acknowledge it to be such, and 
must then attack it with unyielding reso- 
lution. There are many such evils, and 
each must be fought after a separate 
fashion; yet there is one quality which 
we must bring to the solution of every 



EOOSEVELT. 273 

problem, — that is, an intense and fervid 
Americanism. We shall never be suc- 
cessful over the dangers that confront 
us; we shall never achieve true greatness, 
nor reach the lofty ideal which the found- 
ers and preservers of our mighty Fed- 
eral republic have set before us, unless 
we are American in heart and soul, in 
spirit and purpose, keenly alive to the 
responsibility implied in the very name 
of American, and proud beyond measure 
of the glorious privilege of bearing it. 



THE NATION'S DEBT TO WASHING- 
TON AND LINCOLN 

Without Washington we should prob- 
ably never have won our independence 
of the British crown, and we should al- 
most certainly have failed to become a 
great nation, remaining instead a cluster 
of jangling little communities, drifting 
toward the type of government prevalent 
in Spanish America, Without Lincoln 



274 KOOSEVELT. 

we might perhaps have failed to keep 
the political unity we had won; and even 
if, as is possible, we had kept it, both the 
struggle by which it was kept and the 
results of this struggle would have been 
so different that the effect upon our na- 
tional history could not have failed to 
be profound. Yet the nation's debt to 
these men is not confined to what.it owes 
them for its material well-being, incal- 
culable though this debt is. Beyond the 
fact that we are an independent and 
united people, with half a continent as 
our heritage, lies the fact that every 
American is richer by the heritage of 
the noble deeds ajid noble words of 
Washington and of Lincoln. Each of us 
who reads the Gettysburg speech or the 
second inaugural address of the greatest 
American of the nineteenth century, or 
who studies the long campaigns and 
lofty statesmanship of that other Amer- 
ican who was even greater, cannot but 
feel within him that lift toward things 
higher and nobler which can never be 



KOOSEVELT. 275 

bestowed by the enjoyment of mere ma- 
terial prosperity. 

PRACTICAL POLITICS 

But disinterestedness and honesty and 
unselfish desire to do what is rij^ht are 
not enough in themselves. A man must 
not only be disinterested, but he must be 
efficient. If he goes into politics he must 
go into practical politics, in order to 
make his influence felt Practical poli- 
tics must not be construed to mean dirty 
politics. On the contraiy, in the long 
run the politics of fraud and treachery 
and foulness are unpractical politics, and 
the most practical of all politicians is the 
politician who is clean and decent and 
upright. But a man who goes into the 
actual battles of the political world must 
prepare himself much as he would for the 
struggle in any other branch of our life. 
He must be prepared to meet men of far 
lower ideals than his own, and to face 
things, not as he would wish them, but 
as they are. 



27G KO0SEVELT. 

THE EIGHT TO BE OPTIMISTS— 
BUT! 

We Americans have the right to be 
optimists; but — it is mere folly to blind 
ourselves to the fact that there are some 
black clouds in the horizon of our coun- 
try. 



OUR CHIEF AMERICANS. 

The Americans who stand highest on 
the list of the world's worthies are 
Washington, who fought to found the 
country which he afterward governed, 
and Lincoln, who saved it through the 
blood of the best and bravest in the 
land; Washington, the soldier and states- 
man, the man of cool head, dauntless 
heart, and iron will, the greatest of good 
men and the best of great men; and Lin- 
coln, sad, patient, kindly Lincoln, who 
for four years toiled and suffered for the 
people and when his work was done kiid 
down his life that the flag which had 



EOOSEVELT. 277 

been rent in sunder might once more be 
made whole and without a seam. It is on 
men such as these and not on the advo- 
cates of peace at any price, or upon those 
so short-sighted that they refuse to take 
into account the possibility of war, that 
we must rely in every crisis which deeply 
touches the true greatness and true 
honor of the republic. The United States 
has never once in the course of its history 
suffered harm because of preparation 
for war. But we have suffered incal- 
culable harm, again and again, from a 
foolish failure to prepare for war, or from 
reluctance to fight when to fight was 
proper. 

QUACK REMEDIES. 

Quack remedies of the universal cure- 
all type, are generally as noxious to the 
body politic as to the body corporal. 

OUR DUTY TO THE STATE. 

We must do our duty by the State. 
We must frown down dishonesty and 



278 ROOSEVELT. 

corruption, and war for honesty and 
righteousness. 

THE MEN WHO HARM US. 

The people that do harm in the end 
are not the wrong-doers whom all ex- 
ecrate; they are the men who do not do 
quite as much wrong, but who are ap- 
plauded instead of being execrated. The 
career of Benedict Arnold has done us 
no harm as a nation because of the uni- 
versal horror it inspired. The men who 
have done us harm are those who have 
advocated disunion, but have done it so 
that they have been enabled to keep their 
political position; who have advocated 
repudiation of debts, or other financial 
dishonesty, but have kept their stand- 
ing in the community; who preach the 
doctrines of anarchy, but refrain from 
action that will bring them within the 
pale of the law; for these men lead thou- 
sands astray by the fact that they go 
unpunished or even rewarded for their 
misdeeds. 



ROOSEVELT. 279 

POLITICS AS PRACTICAL AS 
BUSINESS. 

College men must learn to be as prac- 
tical in politics as they would be in busi- 
ness or in law. It is surely unnecessary 
to say that by "practical" I do not mean 
anything that savors in the least of dis- 
honesty. On the contrary, a college man 
is peculiarly bound to keep a high ideal 
and to be true to it; but he must work 
in practical ways to try to realize this 
ideal, and must not refuse to do anything 
because he cannot get everything. One 
especially necessary thing is to know 
the facts by actual experience, and not to 
take refuge in mere theorizing. There 
are always a number of excellent and 
well-meaning men whom we gTow to re- 
gard with amused impatience because 
they waste all their energies on some 
visionary scheme which, even if it were 
not visionary, would be useless. When 
they come to deal with political ques- 
tions, these men are apt to err from 
sheer lack of familiarity with the work- 



280 EOOSEVELT. 

ings of our government. No man ever 
really learned from books how to man- 
age a governmental system. Books are 
admirable adjuncts, and tlie statesman 
who has carefully studied them is far 
more apt to do good work than if he had 
not; but if he has never done anything 
but study books he will not be a states- 
man at all. 

KNOW-NOTHINGISM IS UN-AMER- 
ICAN. 
But I wish to be distinctly understood 
on one point. Americanism is a ques- 
tion of spirit, conviction, and pui*pose, 
not of creed or birthplace. The politician 
who bids for the Irish or German vote, 
or the Irishman or German who votes 
as an Irishman or German, is despicable, 
for all citizens of this commonwealth 
should vote solely as Americans; but he 
is not a whit less despicable than the 
voter who votes against a good Amer- 
ican, merely because that American hap- 
pens to have been born in Ireland or Ger- 



KOOSEVELT. 281 

many. Know-nothingism, in any form, is 
as utterly un-American as foreignism. It 
is a base outrage to oppose a man be- 
cause of his religion or birthplace, and 
all good citizens will hold any such ef- 
fort in abhorrence. A Scandinavian, a 
German, or an Irishman who has really 
become an American has the right to 
stand on exactly the same footing as any 
native-born citizen in the land, and is 
just as much entitled to the friendship 
and support, social and political, of his 
neighbors. 

THE GRAND SECRET OF PER- 
MANENT SUCCESS. 
In our political and social life alike in 
order to permanently succeed, we must 
base our conduct on the Decalogue and 
the Golden Rule. 

THE IDEAL CITIZEN. 

No amount of intelligence and no 
amount of energy will save a nation 
which is not honest, and no government 



282 ROOSEVELT. 

can ever be a permanent success if ad- 
ministered in accordance with base 
ideals. The first requisite in the citizen 
who wishes to share the work of our pub- 
lic life, whether he wishes himself to hold 
office or merely to do his plain duty as 
an American by taking part in the man- 
agement of our political machiner^% is 
that he shall act disinterestedly and with 
a sincere purpose to serve the whole com- 
monwealth. 

THE BEST SERVICE IS NOT REN- 
DERED BY THE CRITIC. 
The prime thing that every man who 
takes an interest in politics should re- 
member is that he must act, and not 
merely criticise the actions of others. It 
is not the man who sits by his fireside 
reading his evening paper, and saying 
how bad our politics and politicians are, 
who will ever do anything to save us; it 
is the man who goes out into the rough 
hurly-burly of the caucus, the primary, 
and the political meeting, and there faces 



ROOSEVELT. 283 

bis fellows on equal terms. The real serv- 
ice is rendered, not by the critic who 
stands aloof from the contest, but by the 
man who enters into it and bears his 
part as a man should, undeterred by the 
blood and the sweat. It is a pleasant 
but dangerous thing to associate merely 
with cultivated, refined men of high 
ideals and sincere purpose to do right, 
and to think that one has done all one's 
duty by discussing politics with such 
associates. It is a good thing to meet 
men of this stamp; indeed it is a neces- 
sary thing, for we thereby brighten our 
ideals, and keep in touch with the people 
who are unselfish in their purposes; but 
if we associate with such men exclusively 
we can accomplish nothing. The actual 
battle must be fought out on other and 
less pleasant fields. 

MACHINE POLITICIANS. 
Many a machine politician who is to- 
day a most unwholesome influence in our 
politics is in private life quite as respect- 



284 KOOSEVELT. 

able as anyone else; only he has forgotten 
that his business affer-ts the state at 
large, and, regarding it as merely his own 
private concern, he has carried into it the 
same selfish spirit that actuates in busi- 
ness matters the majority of the average 
mercantile community. A merchant or 
manufacturer works his business, as a 
rule, purely for his own benefit, without 
any regard whatever for the community 
at large. The merchant uses all his in- 
fluence for a low tariff, and the manufac- 
turer is even more strenuously in favor 
of protection, not at all from any theory 
of abstract right, but because of self- 
interest. Each views such a political 
question as the tariff, not from the stand- 
point of how it will affect the nation as 
a whole, but merely from that of how it 
will affect him personally. If a com- 
munity were in favor of protection, but 
nevertheless permitted all the govern- 
mental machinery to fall into the hands 
of importing merchants, it would be 
small cause for wonder if the latter 



ROOSEVELT. 285 

shaped the laws to suit themselves, and 
the chief blame, after all, would rest with 
the supine and lethargic majority which 
failed to have enough energy to take 
charge of their own affairs. Our machine 
politicians, in actual life act in just this 
same way; their actions are very often 
dictated by selfish motives, with but lit- 
tle regard for the people at large though, 
like the merchants, they often hold, a very 
high standard of honor on certain points; 
they therefore need continually to be 
watched and opposed by those who wish 
to see good government: But, after all, 
it is hardly to be wondered at that they 
abuse power which is allowed to fall into 
their hands owing to the ignorance or 
timid indifference of those who by rights 
should themselves keep it. 

WHAT CAN AND WHAT CANNOT 
BE DONE BY LAW, 

The difference betvs^een what can and 
what cannot be done by law is well ex- 
emplified by our experience with the 



286 KOOSEVELT. 

negro problem. The negroes were for- 
merly keld in slavery. This was a wrong 
which legislation could remedy, and 
which could not be remedied except by 
legislation. Accordingly they were set 
free by law. This having been done, 
many of their friends believed that in 
some way, by additional legislation, we 
could at once put them on an intellec- 
tual, social, and business equality with 
the whites. The effort has failed com- 
pletely. In large sections of the country 
the negroes are not treated as they 
should be treated and politically in par- 
ticular the frauds upon them have been 
so gross and shameful as to awaken not 
merely indignation but bitter wrath; yet 
the best friends of the negro admit that 
his hope lies, not in legislation, but in 
the constant working of those often un- 
seen forces of the national life which are 
greater than all legislation. 

KOOSEVELT'S FELLOW-WORKERS. 
The men with whom I have worked 



ROOSEVELT. 287 

and associated most closely, with whom 
I have shared what is at least an earnest 
desire to better social and civic condi- 
tions (neither blinking what is evil nor 
being misled by the apostles of a false 
remedy), and with whose opinions as to 
what is right and practical my own in 
the main agree, are not capitalists, save 
as all men who by toil earn, and with 
prudence save, money are capitalists. 
They include reporters on the daily pa- 
pers, editors of magazines, as well as of 
newspapers, principals in the public 
schools, young lawyers, young architects, 
young doctors, young men of business, 
who are struggling to rise in their pro- 
fession by dint of faithful work, but who 
give some of their time to doing what 
they can for the city, and a number of 
priests and clergymen; but as it happens 
the list does not include any man of great 
wealth, or any of those men whose names 
are in the public mind identified with 
great business corporations. Most of 
them have at one time or another in their 



288 EOOSEVELT. 

lives faced poverty and know what it is; 
none of them are more than well-to-do. 
They include Catholics and Protestants, 
Jews, and men who would be regarded 
as heterodox by professors of most recog- 
nized creeds; some of them were born on 
this side, others are of foreign birth ; but 
they are all Americans, heart and soul, 
who fight out for themselves the battles 
of their own lives, meeting sometimes 
defeat and sometimes victory. They 
neither forget that man does owe a duty 
to his fellows, and should strive to do 
what he can to increase the well-being of 
the community; nor yet do they forget 
that in the long run the only way to help 
people is to make them help themselves. 
They are prepared to try any properly 
guarded legislative remedy for ills which 
they believe can be remedied; but they 
perceive clearly that it is both foolish 
and wicked to teach the average man 
who is not well off that some wrong or 
injustice has been done him, and that he 
should hope for redress elsewhere than 




ADMIEAL DEWEY. HEEO OF MANILA BAY 



ROOSEVELT. 289 

in his own industry^ honesty, and intel- 
ligence. 

AN AMERICAN OR NOTHING. 

Besides, the man who does not become 
Americanized nevertheless fails to re 
main a European, and becomes nothing 
at all. The immigrant cannot possibly 
remain what he was, or continue to be a 
member of the Old World society. If he 
tries to retain his old language, in a few 
generations it becomes a barbarous jar- 
gon; if he tries to retain his old customs 
and ways of life, in a few generations he 
becomes an uncouth boor. He has cut 
himself off from the Old World, and can- 
not retain his connection with it; and if 
he wishes ever to amount to anything he 
must throw himself heart and soul, and 
without reservation, into the new life to 
which he has come. It is urgently nec- 
essary to check and regulate our immi- 
gration, by much more drastic laws than 
now exist; and this should be done both 
to keep out laborers who tend to depress 



290 ROOSEVELT. 

the labor market, and to keep out races 
which do not assimilate readily with our 
own, and unworthy individuals of all 
races — not only criminals, idiots, and 
paupers, but anarchists of the Most and 
O 'Donovan Eossa type. 



YOUNG REFORMERS REFORM TOO 
MUOn. 

An ardent young reformer is very apt 
to try to begin by reforming too much. 
He needs always to keep in mind that he 
has got to serve as a sergeant before he 
assumes the duties of commander-in- 
chief. It is right for him from the be- 
ginning to take a great interest in na- 
tional, state and municipal affairs, and 
to try to make himself felt in them if the 
occasion arises; but the best work must 
be done by the citizen working in his own 
ward or district Let him associate him- 
self with the men who think as he does, 
and who, like him, are sincerely devoted 
to the public good. 



EOOSEVELT. 291 

WE WANT GOOD SHIPS AND GOOD 
MEN. 
W^ith poor ships, were an Admiral Nel- 
son and Farragut rolled in one, he might 
be beaten by any first-class fleet; and he 
surely would be beaten if his opponents 
were in any degree his equals in skill and 
courage; but without this skill and cour- 
age no perfection of material can avail, 
and with them very grave shortcomings 
in equipmenti may be overcome. The men 
who command our ships must have as 
perfect weapons ready to their hands as 
can be found in the civilized world, and 
they must be trained to the highest point 
in using them. They must have skill in 
handling the ships, skill in tactics, skill 
in strategy, for ignorant courage can not 
avail; but without courage neither will 
skill avail. They must have in them the 
dogged ability to bear punishment, the 
power and desire to inflict it, the daring, 
the resolution, the willingness to take 
risks and incur responsibility which have 
been possessed by the great captains of 



2U2 llOOSEVELT. 

all ages and without which no man can 
ever hope to stand in the front rank of 
fighting men. 

LABOR UNIONS. 
There are certain labor unions, certain 
bodies of organized labor — notably those 
admirable organizations which include 
the railway conductors, the locomotive 
engineers and the firemen — which to my 
mind embody almost the best hope that 
there is for healthy national growth in 
the future; but bitter experience has 
taught men who work for reform that the 
average labor leader, the average dema- 
gogue who shouts for a depreciated cur- 
rency, or for the overthrow of the rich, 
will not do anything to help those who 
honestly strive to make better our civic 
conditions. There are immense numbers 
of workingmen to whom we can appeal 
with perfect confidence; but too often we 
find that a large proportion of the men 
"w^ho style themselves leaders of organ- 
ized labor are influenced only by sullen 



ROOSEVELT. 293 

short-sighted hatred of what they do not 
understand, and are deaf to all appeals, 
whether to their national or to their civic 
patriotism. 



GEMS. 

We rightfully value success, but some- 
times we overvalue it, for we tend to for- 
get that success may be obtained by 
means which should make it abhorred 

and despised by every honorable man. 
« * * 

An educated man must not go into pol- 
itics as such; he must go in simply as an 
American; and when he is once in, he 
will speedily realize that he must work 
very hard indeed, or he will be upset by 
some other American, with no education 

at all. 

♦ ♦ * 

We believe in every kind of honest and 
lawful pleasure, so long as the getting it 
is not made man's chief business; and we 
believe heartily in the good that can be 



294 ROOSEVELT. 

done by men of leisure who work hard in 
their leisure, whether at politics or phil- 
anthropy, literature or art But a leis- 
ure class whose leisure simply means 

idleness is a curse to the community. 

* * * 

When once a body of citizens becomes 
thoroughly out of touch and out of tem- 
per with the national life, its usefulness 
is gone, and its power of leaving its mark 

on the times is gone also. 

* * * 

No nation can achieve real greatness if 
its people are not both essentially moral 
and essentially manly; both sets of qual- 
ities are necessary. 

* * * 

The duties of peace are always with us. 

* * * 

There are plenty of ugly things about 

wealth. 

* * » 

Many working men look with distrust 
on the laws which would really help 
them. 



ROOSEVELT. 295 



PRES. ROOSEVELT'S TRIBUTE 
TO ADMIRAL DEWEY. 

It has been said that it was a mere 
accident that Dewey happened to be in 
command of the Asiatic Squadron when 
the war with Spain broke out. This is 
not the fact. He was sent to command 
it in the fall of 1897, because, to use the 
very language employed at the time, it 
was deemed wise to have there a man 
"who could go into Manila if necessary." 
He owed the appointment to the high 
professional reputation he enjoyed, and 
to the character he had established for 
willingness to accept responsibility, for 
sound judgment, and for entire fearless- 
ness. 

Admiral Dewey performed one of the 
great feats of all time. At the very out- 
set of the Spanish war he struck one of 
the two decisive blows which brought the 



296 ROOSEVELT. 

war to a conclusion, and as his was the 
first fight, his success exercised an incal- 
culable effect upon the whole conflict. He 
set the note of the war. He had care- 
fully prepared for action during the 
months he was on the Asiatic coast. He 
had his plans thoroughly matured, and 
he struck the instant that war was de- 
clared. There was no delay, no hesita- 
tion. As soon as news came that he was 
to move, his war steamers turned their 
bows toward Manila Bay. There was 
nothing to show whether or not Spanish 
mines and forts would be eflficient; but 
Dewey, cautious as he was at the right 
time, had not a particle of fear of taking 
risks when the need arose. In the tropic 
night he steamed past the forts, and then 
on over the mines to where the Spanish 
vessels lay. In number of guns and 
weight of metal thrown at a single dis- 
charge, and in the number and aggre- 
gate tonnage of the ships, the Spanish 
squadron about equaled his, and what 
material inferiority there was on the 



ROOSEVELT. 297 

Spanish side was more than made up by 
the forts and mines. The overwhelming 
difference was moral, not material. It 
was the difference in the two command- 
ers, in the officers and crews of the two 
fleets, and in the naval service, afloat 
and ashore, of the trv^o nations. On the 
one side there had been thorough prep- 
aration; on the other, none that was ade- 
quate. It would be idle to recapitulate 
the results. Steaming in with cool stead- 
iness, Dewey's fleet cut the Spaniards to 
pieces, while the Americans were prac- 
tically unhurt. Then Dewey drew off to 
breakfast, satisfied himself that he had 
enough ammunition, and returned to 
stamp out what embers of resistance 
were still feebly smouldering. 

The victory insured the fall of the 
Philippines, for Manila surrendered as 
soon as our land forces arrived and were 
in position to press their attack home. 
The work, however, was by no means 
done, and Dewey^s diplomacy and firm- 
ness were given full scope for the year he 



298 KOOSEVELT. 

remained in Manila waters; not only in 
dealing with Spaniards and insurgents, 
but in making it evident that we would 
tolerate no interference from any hostile 
European power. It is not yet the time 
to show how much he did in this last 
respect. Suffice it to say that by his 
firmness he effectually frustrated any at- 
tempt to interfere with our rights, while 
by his tact he avoided giving needless 
offense, and he acted in hearty accord 
with our cordial well-wishers, the Eng- 
lish naval and diplomatic representa- 
tives in the Islands. 

Admiral Dewey comes back to his na- 
tive land having won the right to a 
greeting such as has been given to no 
other man since the Civil War. 



ROOSEVELT. 299 

ON EXPANSION. 

President Roosevelt in his speech in the 
Liberal Arts Building at St. Louis April 30, 
1903 paid a glowing tribute to the far sight- 
edness of the statesmen who advocated the 
Louisiana purchase, saying that expansion 
was the sign of any growing, progressive na- 
tion. His speech follows: 

"Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
At the outset of my address let me recall to 
the minds of my hearers that the soil upon 
which we stand, before it w^as ours, was suc- 
cessively the possession of two mighty em- 
pires. Spain and France, whose sons made a 
deathless record of heroism in the early annals 
of the New World. No history of the western 
country can be written without paying heed 
to the wonderful part played therein in the 
early days by the soldiers, missionaries, ex- 
plorers and traders, who did their work for 
the honor of the proud banners of France and 
Castile. 

"While the settlers of English-speaking 
stock, and those of Dutch, German and Scan- 
dinavian origin who were associated with 



300 ROOSEVELT. 

them, were still clinging close to the eastern 
seaboard, the pioneers of Spain and of France 
had penetrated deep into the hitherto un- 
known wilderness of the West and had wan- 
dered far and wide within the boundaries of 
what is now our mighty country. The very 
cities themselves— St. Louis, New Orleans, 
Santa Fe, New Mexico — bear witness by their 
titles to the nationalities of their founders. 
It was not until the revolution had begun that 
the English-speaking settlers pushed west 
across the Alleghenies, and not until a cen- 
tury ago that they entered in to possess the 
land upon which we now stand. 

LESSON IN EXPANSION. 

"We have met here to-day to commem- 
orate the hundredth anniversary of the event 
which more than any other, after the founda- 
tion of the government and always expecting 
its preservation, determined the character of 
our national life— determined that we should 
be a great expanding nation instead of rela- 
tively a small and stationary one. 

"Of course, it was not with the Louisiana 
purchase that our career of expansion began. 



ROOSEVELT. 301 

In the middle of the revolutionary war the 
IlHnois region, including the present states 
of Illinois and Indiana, was added to our 
domain by force of arms, as a sequel to the 
adventurous expedition of George Rogers 
Clarke and his frontier-riflemen. Later the 
treaties of Jay and Pinckney materially ex- 
tended our real boundaries to the West. But 
none of these events was of so striking a 
character as to fix the popular imagination. 
The old thirteen colonies had always claimed 
that their rights stretched westward to the 
Mississippi, and, vague and unreal, though 
these claims were until made good by con- 
quest, settlement and diplomacy, they will 
serve to give the impression that the earli- 
est westward movements of our people were 
little more than the filling in of already ex- 
isting national boundaries. 

"But there could be no illusion about the 
acquisition of the vast territory beyond the 
Mississippi, stretching westward to the Pa- 
cific, which in that day was known as Lou- 
isiana. This immense region was admittedly 
the territory of a foreign power, of an Euro- 



302 ROOSEVELT. 

pean kingdom. None of our people had ever 
laid claim to a foot of it. Its acquisition 
could in no sense be treated as rounding out 
any existing claims. When we acquired it 
we made evident once for all that consciously 
and of set purpose we had embarked on a 
career of expansion, that we had taken our 
place among those daring and hardy nations 
who risk much with the hope and desire of 
winning high position among the great pow- 
ers of the earth. As is so often the case in 
nature, the law of development of a living 
organism showed itself in its actual work- 
ings to be wiser than the wisdom of the 
wisest. 

"This work of expansion was by far the 
greatest work of our people during the years 
that entervened between the adoption of the 
Constitution and the outbreak of the Civil 
War. There were other questions of real 
moment and importance, and there were 
many which at the time seemed such to 
those engaged in answering them, but the 
greatest feat of our forefathers of those gen- 
erations was the deeds of the men who, with 



ROOSEVELT. 303 

pack train or wagon train, on horseback 
on foot, or by boat upon the waters, pushed 
the frontier ever westward across the conti- 
nent. 

GAIN FOR IXSTITUTIONS. 

"Never before had the world seen the kind 
of national expansion which gave our people 
all that part of the American continent 
lying west of the thirteen original states, 
the greatest landmark in which was the 
Louisiana purchase. Our triumph in this 
process of expansion was indissolubly bound 
up with the success of our peculiar kind of 
federal government, and this success has 
been so complete that because of its very 
completeness we now sometimes fail to ap- 
preciate not only the all-importance but the 
tren-iendous difficulty of the problem with 
which our nation was originally faced. 

"When our forefathers joined to call into 
being this nation, they undertook a task for 
which there was but little encouraging prece- 
dent. The development of civilization from 
the earliest period seemed to show the truth 
of two propositions: In the first place, it 



304 ROOSEVELT. 

had always proved exceedingly difficult to 
secure both freedom and strength in any 
government, and in the second place, it had 
always proved well-nigh impossible for a 
nation to expand without either breaking up 
or becoming a centralized tyranny. With 
the success of our effort to combine a strong 
and efficient national union, able to put 
down disorder at home and to maintain our 
honor and interest abroad, I have not now to 
deal. This success was signal and all-im- 
portant, but it was by no means unprece- 
dented in the same sense that our type of 
expansion was unprecedented. 

WEAKNESS OF GREECE. 

"The History of Rome and of Greece illus- 
trates very well the two types of expansion 
which had taken 'place in ancient time and 
which had been universally accepted as the 
only possible types up to the period when as 
a nation we ourselves began to take posses- 
sion of this continent. The Grecian states 
performed remarkable feats of colonization, 
but each colony as soon as created became 
entirely independent of the mother state, and 



ROOSEVELT. 305 

in after years was almost as apt to prove its 
enemy as its friend. Local self-government, 
local independence, was secured, but only 
by the absolute sacrifice of anything resem- 
bling national unity. 

"In consequence, the Greek world, for all 
its wonderful brilliancy and the extraordi- 
nary artistic, literary and philosophical de- 
velopment which has made all mankind its 
debtors for the ages, was yet wholly unable 
to withstand a formidable foe, save spasmod- 
ically. As soon as powerful, permanent em- 
pires arose on its outskirts, the Greek states 
in the neighborhood of such empires fell un- 
der their sway. National power and great- 
ness were completely sacrificed to local lib- 
erty. 

MISTAKES OF ROME. 

"With Rome the exact apposite occurred. 
The imperial city rose to absolute dominion 
over all the peoples of Italy, and then ex- 
panded her rule over the entire civilized 
world by a process which kept the nation 
strong and united, but gave no room what- 
ever for local liberty and self-government. 



306 ROOSEVELT. 

All other cities and countries were subject 
to Rome. In consequence this great and 
masterful race of warriors, rulers, road 
builders and administrators stamped their 
indelible impress upon all the after life of 
our race, and yet let an over-centralization 
cat out the vitals of their empire until it 
became an empty shell; so that when the 
barbarians came they destroyed only what 
had already become worthless to the world. 
"The underlying viciousness of each type 
of expansion was plain enough and the rem- 
edy now seems simple enough. But when 
the fathers of the republic first formulated 
the Constitution under which we live this 
remedy was untried, and no one could foretell 
how it would work. They themselves began 
the experiment almost immediately by add- 
ing new states to the original thirteen. Ex- 
cellent people in the East viewed this initial 
expansion of the country with great alarm. 
Exactly as during the colonial period many 
good people in the mother country thought it 
highly important that settlers should be kept 
out of the Ohio Valley in the interest of the 



ROOSEVELT. 307 

fur companies, so after we had become a na- 
tion many good people on the Atlantic coast 
felt grave apprehension lest they might 
somehow be hurt by the westward growth of 
the nation. 

"These good people shook their heads over 
the formation of states in the fertile Ohio 
Valley, which now forms part of the heart of 
our nation, and they declared that the de- 
struction of the republic had been accom- 
plished when through the Louisiana pur- 
chase we acquired nearly half of what is now 
that same republic's present territory. Nor 
was their feeling unnatural. Only the ad- 
venturous and the far-seeing can be expected 
heartily to welcome the process of expan- 
sion, for the nation that expands is a nation 
which is entering upon a great career, and 
with greatness there must of necessity come 
perils which daunt all save the most stout- 
hearted. 

"We expanded by carving the wilderness 
into territories and out of these territories 
building new states when once they had re- 
ceived as permanent settlers a sufficient num- 



308 ROOSEVELT. 

ber of our own people. Being a practical na- 
tion, we have never tried to force on any 
section of our new territory an unsuitable 
form of government merely because it was 
suitable for another section under different 
conditions. Of the territory covered by the 
Louisiana purchase a portion was given 
statehood within a few years. Another por- 
tion has not been admitted to statehood, al- 
though a century has elapsed — although 
doubtless it soon will be. In each case we 
showed the practical government genius 
of our race by devising methods suitable to 
meet the actual existing needs, not by in- 
sisting upon the application of some abstract 
shibboleth to all our new possessions alike, 
no matter how incongruous this application 
might sometimes be. 

BUILDING OF STATES. 

"Over by far the major part of the terri- 
tory, however, our people spread in such 
numbers during the course of the nineteenth 
century that we were able to build up state 
after state, each with exactly the same con- 
plete local independence in all matters af- 



ROOSEVELT. 309 

fecting purely its own domestic interests as 
in many of the original thirteen states — each 
owing the same absolute fealty to the 
Union of all the states which each of the 
original thirteen states also owes— and finally, 
each having the same proportional right to 
its share in shaping and directing the com- 
mon policy of the Union which is possessed 
by any other state, whether of the original 
thirteen or not. 

"This process now seems to us part of the 
natural order of things, but it was wholly un- 
known until our o\\'n people devised it. It 
seems to us a mere matter of course, a mat- 
ter of elementary right and justice, that in 
the deliberations of the national representa- 
tive bodies the representatives of a state 
which came into the Union but yesterday 
stand on a footing of exact and entire equality 
with those of the commonwealths whose sons 
once signed the Declaration of Independence. 
But this way of looking at the matter is 
purely modern, and in its origin purely Amer- 
ican. When Washington during his presi- 
dency saw new states come into the Union 



310 ROOSEVELT. 

on a footing of complete equality with the 
old, every European nation which had 
colonies still administered them as depend- 
encies, and every other mother country 
treated the colonist not as self-governing 
equal but as a subject. 

FOLLOWED BY OTHERS. 

"The process which we began has since 
been followed by all the great peoples who 
were capable both of expansion and of self- 
government, and now the world accepts it as 
the natural process, as the rule; but a cen- 
tury and a quarter ago it was not merely ex- 
ceptional; it was unknown. 

"This, then, is the great historic signifi- 
cance of the movement of continental expan- 
sion in which the Louisiana purchase was the 
most striking single achievement. It stands 
out in marked relief even among the feats of 
a nation of pioneers, a nation whose people 
have from the beginning been picked out by 
a process of natural selection from among 
the most enterprising individuals of the na- 
tions of western Europe. 

"The acquisition of the territory is a credit 



ROOSEVELT. 311 

to the broad and far-sighted statesmanship 
of the great statesmen to whom it was im- 
mediately due, and, above all, to the ag- 
gressive and masterful character of the 
hardy pioneer folk to whose restless energy 
these statesmen gave expression and direc- 
tion, whom they followed rather than led. 
The history of the land comprised within the 
limits of the purchase is an epitome of the 
entire history of our people. 

WORK OF PIONEERS. 

"Within these limits we have gradually 
built up state after state until now they 
many times over surpass in wealth, in popu- 
lation and in many-sided developments the 
original thirteen states as they were when 
their delegates met in the continental con- 
gress. The people of these states have shown 
themselves mighty in war with their fellow 
man, and mighty in strength to tame the 
rugged wilderness. They could not thus 
have conquered the forest and the prairie, 
the mountain and the desert, had they not 
possessed the great fighting virtues, the 



312 ROOSEVELT. 

qualities which enable a people to overcome 
the forces of hostile men and hostile nature. 
"On the other hand, they could not have 
used aright their conquest had they not in 
addition possessed the qualities of self- 
mastery and self-restraint, the power of act- 
ing in combination with their fellows, the 
power of yielding obedience to the law and of 
building up an orderly civilization. Courage 
and hardihood are indispensable virtues in a 
people, but the people which possesses no 
others can never rise high in the scale either 
of power or of culture. Great peoples must 
have in addition the governmental capacity 
which comes only when individuals fully 
recognize their duties to one another and to 
the whole body politic, and are able to join 
together in feats of constructive statesman- 
ship and of honest and affective administra- 
tion. 

CHANGE IN CONDITIONS. 

"The old pioneer days are gone, with their 
roughness and their hardship, their incredi- 
ble toil and their wild half -savage romance. 
But the need for the pioneer virtues remains 



ROOSEVELT. 313 

the same as ever. The pecuhar frontier con- 
ditions have vanished, but the manhness and 
stalwart hardihood of the frontiersmen can 
be given even freer scope under the condi- 
tions surrounding tlie complex industrialism 
of the present day. 

"In this great region acquired for our peo- 
ple under the presidency of Jefferson, this 
region stretching from the gulf to the Cana- 
dian border, from the Mississippi to the 
Rockies, the material and social progress has 
been so vast that alike for weal and for woe 
its people now share the opportunities and 
bear the burdens common to the entire civil- 
ized world. The problems before us are 
fundamentally the same east and west of the 
Mississippi, in the new states and in the 
old, and exactly the same qualities are re- 
quired for their successful solution. 

"We meet here to-day to commemorate a 
great event, an event which marks an area in 
statesmanship no less than in pioneering. It 
is fitting that we should pay our homage in 
words, but we must in honor make our words 
good by deeds. AVe have every right to take 



314 ROOSEVELT. 

a just pride in the great deeds of our fore- 
fathers, but we show ourselves unworthy to 
be their descendants if we make what they 
did an excuse for our lying supine instead of 
an incentive to the effort to show ourselves 
by our acts worthy of them. In the admin- 
istration of city, state, and nation, in the 
management of our home life and the con- 
duct of our business and social relations, we 
are bound to show certain high and fine 
qualities of character under penalty of seeing 
the whole heart of our civilization eaten out 
while the body still lives. 

NEED OF HIGHER LIFE. 

"We justly pride ourselves on our mar- 
velous material prosperity, and such pros- 
perity must exist in order to establish a 
foundation upon which a higher life can be 
built, but unless we do in every fact build 
this higher life thereon the material pros- 
perity itself will go for but very little. Now, 
in 1903, in the altered conditions, we must 
meet the changed and changing problems 
with the spirit shown by the men who in 



ROOSEVELT. 315 

1803 and in the subsequent years gained, ex- 
plored, conquered and settled this vast terri- 
tory, then a desert, now filled with thriving 
and populous states. 

"The old days were great because the 
men who lived in them had mighty qualities, 
and we must make the new days great by 
showing these same qualities. We must 
insist upon courage and resolution, upon 
hardihood, tenacity, and fertility in resource; 
we must insist upon the strong virile virtues, 
and we must insist no less upon the virtues 
of self-restraint, self-mastery, regard for 
the rights of others; we must show our ab- 
horrence of cruelty, brutality and corruption 
in public and in private life alike. If we 
come short in any of these qualities we shall 
measurably fail; and if, as I believe we 
surely shall, we develop these qualities in 
the future to an even greater degree than 
in the past, then in the century now begin- 
ning we shall make of this republic the freest 
and most orderly, the most just and most 
mighty nation which has ever come forth 
from the womb of time." 



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